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Morais, Sabato, 1823-1897. | 
Italian Hebrew literature | 
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LITERATURE 


BY 
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SABATO MORAIS, LL.D. 


EDITED BY 


JULIUS H. GREENSTONE 


WITH A FOREWORD BY 


HENRY S. MORAIS 


NEW YORK 
THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF AMERICA 
1926 


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PUBLISHED IN COMMEMORATION OF 
THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 
OF THE BIRTH OF 


Dr. SABATO MORAIS, 
FOUNDER OF 
THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 


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TABLE OF CONTENTS 


PAGE 
POPE WOLG, (DY) REV c ELEDT YS. VLOLAles ot.) en sh Sialelas Pie ate ei ence very III 
Preface sy, tue; itor crn cies Cake cronies Sve Seen ane eroveners V 
Pigliangaehrem, Literature sin chink eas wee ee AelbiGaiuctals sarc le vininias 1 

ShabbetartDonnologstecre occ ec cer erteter ie sear era per a eat oie 1 
INAt Hann DeLay Chiel wre mmr ceil sail tale ian ee Rivscakeyc Na aie la 5 
Tmmanneliok Rome nem aaa eae ener sdetan is ticipate ate cher ate 9 
Blias deliMedigo.cc ce saat aurea es dle seh cieiras aide ecaiara ie soe 52 
AZaria iy CEEROSSI peice a ein eae er ere clatter a ol cael er alicts) ace sues 58 
David INiGCO Mace eee or aera ioe era el aliueihs, slate mietetecnars 68 
SamuUclMavid se uzzatcoues we terd ree ee ee eee ee he clatter oteltcteravetts 78 
Luzzatto’s Introduction to the Pentateuch....................- 93 
PNUOKEN EW UZZALLO Mpa cise ee ee ete ea Terao lal gar ar eh tannic he ek eats 153 
PORTA DNIGAORECCHOS Wa enirala\s me.a tute talaciys male ace Dials! sib oi aye eres 171 
Samuel tA latrines are bret ear imtess te fateh Naren Ooaiene tian 173 
LSAACRAT LOIS ete ea Pe Taree yet vel deataney stata cee eet in ate ienctays 175 
Alessandro. Malvanosase son me se tote setee icra meme eae 178 
plrntoeiViassarintien stactyte tire ieee fete cate cre oie taro ata aah 180 
GraZiadiGr ASCO aa sree eRe eee ie eLearn slate Sader eke 182 
Davids ev iieeancirer Ace teeta ster cates ocsbo aici aol eae ee 184 
LGICIHUNZ ZAR ET ray pant hin a en ebcre Cebitane eialene he via ec Ga 188 
ususte Pranchetts sor cars ia ance one sora wire ees ok cle ois ee 191 
Gla COMOTAEDID Hach oM epee en te aia Seat cial oats ee 193 
HamuelavitarZelman deena weenie snare aliens ere dictate 195 
WOSPUUD A MGAN Aber ie Deb ree ieee ee cal SC tN. tis 197 
Beaten VOL DUTMOr selects sisters vem a Agr «gee itn ere hated wy fae 199 
EMANUEL EV ENEZIAN Ite mreua A Tineloe Fak aoe cine llsleaeiee ER eS 202 
Elias Benamozegh and David Castelli................... 212 
mpecutietian Lleprew scholars, 2%. «,«s-s else cee veh ae rere 221 
terme and italian Literature. «236.3. «suds oeeaa een aie 228 
FNS scale | OETA ES at NORD ay RSs Co BN aRIO Nm Ue gu 1 OSE Ni Gate gD 234 





FOREWORD. 


SDV VOT CIN CSDTT OS 
“My sins I recall this day’’ (Genesis xli, 9) 


This was the confession of the culpably forgetful chief of 
the butlers before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. My confes- 
sion is not due to forgetfulness: for the thought of my sainted 
father’s writings has been travelling through my mind all 
these long years. On Thursday, November 11, 1897, that 
beloved soul, after nearly half a century of continuous and 
untiring service as a messenger of Almighty God, was called 
to the sphere where only the highest and noblest can dwell, 
leaving Israel the poorer, for the loss of a servant tried and 
true. In accordance with specific directions left by my 
father, selections were to be made from his multifarious 
works—both in manuscript and in print—and prepared, 
after careful editing, for permanent publication. As his 
older son, with some experience in literary work, my father 
appointed me to the task of editing his writings, subject to 
the approval of my older sister, Nina Morais Cohen, and her 
husband, Emanuel Cohen. Both of these have since 
departed. Untoward circumstances in the ministerial 
profession which I had adopted prevented me from 
gratifying my ardent hope and prayer, though I had all but 
firmly resolved to publish nothing of my own writings, until 
my blessed father’s works had seen complete publication. 


Time and again I had been urged by friends, that, if I 
still found myself unable to do the work, I should place it in 
the hands of others, competent and experienced, who would 
fulfill the requirements, subject to my approval. Hence, 
Dr. Cyrus Adler, who for many years was a pupil of my 
father, and knew him as a student would know his master, 
and Dr. Julius H. Greenstone, who, likewise, was a student 
in the Jewish Theological Seminary, during the period of 


iv FOREWORD 


my father’s presidency, kindly volunteered to assume the 
arduous task, and help on, at the very least, the publication 
of a first volume, from my father’s pen. 

The present book is, therefore, the first product; the sub- 
ject being selected, after the result of conferences, and as one 
upon which comparatively little has been given to the read- 
ing and thinking world. My father’s sphere of writing 
however, was vast and varied, embracing Religion, Theology, 
Doctrines, Politics, Hebrew Literature, Jewish History (on 
which subjects alone, upwards of sixty lectures have been 
written, covering a period from Ezra and Nehemiah, to con- 
siderably past the Expulsion from Spain), articles and poems 
in the Hebrew language, in Italian (my father’s native 
tongue), Polemics, Translations, and a great variety of what 
might be termed Miscellaneous. All these, it is hoped, will, 
with a favorable reception accorded to the present volume, 
see the light of publication: and, if at all possible, under the 
same auspices. Such is my ardent wish. 

Let the legion who -have benefitted by my father’s con- 
tinuous and unflagging ministrations, the innumerable pupils 
and the students to whom he gave his best and choicest time 
and knowledge, come forth and show their appreciation of 
such a master as few can boast, of such a man as is seldom 
found in the pulpit, rare in the domain of learning, but, 
above all, worthy of that grand description given by the 
prophet Malachi (ii, 7): 

NIT Max "NSD OD APDD wD mM Nyt Mw MD ny °D 

“For the priest’s lips shall contain knowledge, and the 
Law they shall seek from his mouth; for he is the messenger 
of the Lord of Hosts.” 


Henry S. Morais. 
New York, June 1, 1926 


PREFACE 


More than a quarter of a century has passed since the 
death of the author of the present volume and his influence 
is still felt not only in the community in which he labored 
for the greater part of his life, but also among all who came 
in contact with him. His personality stands out most vividly 
before those who knew him, his zeal in behalf of his religion 
and his devotion to Jewish learning still stir to action those 
who were privileged to sit at his feet and profit by his teach- 
ings. Their number is indeed increasing as time goes on and 
the dynamic influence of his towering personality manifests 
itself in the works that they have produced and in the institu- 
tions that they have created and fostered as a result of the 
impetus given by his teachings and by his example. His 
memory will for ever be enshrined in the Jewish Theological 
Seminary, the institution which he called into existence and 
to the growth of which he devoted all his energies during the 
latter part of his life. Sabato Morais needs no other memorial. 

Yet, it was felt that the world should not be deprived of the 
products of his fertile intellect. In his modesty, Dr. Morais 
refrained from publishing his writings during his life time. 
Outside of a number of contributions to periodicals, his works 
remained in manuscript, in the possession of his family. 
His son, the Rev. Henry S. Morais, placed the manuscripts 
at my disposal some time ago, with the request that I under- 
take the editing of them. The selection of the material for 
the present volume, including essays pertaining to the life 
and literature of the Jews of Italy—Dr. Morais’ ever-beloved 
native land—was made with the assistance of two of his 
pupils, Dr. Solomon Solis Cohen and Dr. Cyrus Adler. It 
was thought that this volume would bea distinct contribution 
to Jewish scholarship, since very little has been produced in 
the English language on the subjects treated. In many cases, 
the author has added some personal, intimate touches, 
which add so much more interest and vividness to the sub- 


vi PREFACE 


ject. Many of these were originally prepared for delivery 
from the platform and later appeared in Jewish periodicals, 
notably the Jewish Messenger of New York and the Jewish 
Record of Philadelphia. —The manner in which the data were 
collected and arranged and the charming style in which the 
articles are couched give them permanent value and interest. 
It was deemed advisable to include in this volume the trans- 
lation of S. D. Luzzatto’s Introduction to the Pentateuch— 
a work that has not lost its value even after more than 
half a century of Biblical study and investigation. The 
translator’s notes tend to clarify it and to make it more 
useful to the student. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Dr. Morais, 
which was celebrated in April, 1923, was deemed the oppor- 
tune occasion for the publication of thisvolume. The work of 
selection and of editing, however, required much more time 
than had been anticipated, causing this regrettable delay. 

The editor has refrained from modifying the text, permit- 
ting himself to make only casual verbal corrections and 
changes, where necessary. His work has been to a large 
extent mechanical, to verify references, to arrange the mate- 
rial, to prepare an index and to bring some of the data up 
to date. A few notes have been added for the sake of greater 
clarity and historical exactness. He has been aided in this 
work also by Dr. Solis Cohen and Dr. Adler, both of 
whom read the proofs and made a number of valuable 
suggestions, for which he is deeply grateful. 

The volume now presented contains only a small portion 
of Dr. Morais’s writings. There is still in manuscript a large 
collection of homiletic material, as well as many historical 
and biographical studies and essays on Jewish problems of 
the day, which are of considerable interest and value. Per- 
haps at some future time, another selection from the mate- 
rial on hand will be presented to the public. 


Juttus H. GREENSTONE. 
Philadelphia, May 10, 1926 


ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 
I. SHABBETAI DONNOLO 


From the time that Judah Maccabee fell into the fatal 
mistake of seeking Rome as an ally, the Jews, doubtless, 
began to settle in Italy. Their number must have been 
considerable, since we read that Mathya,' a noted sage of 
the Mishnah, had opened a college at the capital. The 
stability it achieved in the midst of a community steeped 
in heathenism, may have been due to the popularity en- 
joyed by its president. What he taught was certainly 
calculated to win favor even with those who differed so 
very essentially in religious view from the Jewish inhabi- 
tants. ‘“‘Be the first to show courtesy to every man’”? 
was one of his favorite maxims, and that he practically 
carried out the broad principles imparted, the testimony 
of his contemporaries goes far to show; for, in giving 
illustrations to the Biblical command, ‘‘ That only which is 
altogether just shalt thou follow,’’? they cite the conduct 
of the sage at the head of a Hebrew academy at Rome. 

But notwithstanding that the Roman Hebrew Academy 
flourished, and drew to itself some of the most renowned 
teachers in Israel, we do not know whether its influence 
reached other cities in the peninsula; nor are data extant 
from which we may form an opinion on the state of Jewish 


t Mathya, i. e. Mattithiah b. Heresh (or Harash), a Palestinian 
Tanna of the second century. He settled in Rome, probably on account 
of the Hadrianic persecutions in Palestine (comp. Bacher, Agada d. 
Tannaiten, I, 380-384; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, new ed., p. 138, 
Warsaw, 1923) [G] 

2 The full quotation is: ‘‘ Meet Ran man with friendly greeting; 
be the tail among lions rather than the head among foxes’’ (Aboth 
IV. 15) [G] 

3 Deut. xvi:26, comp. Sanh. 32b. His extreme piety is exemplified 
in the famous story about the temptation set before him by Satan, which 
he resisted (Midrash Tanhuma, ed. Buber, addition to Hukkat; also 
in Midrash ‘ Aseret ha-Dibrot, ed. Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash I. 79) [G] 


2 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


learning in Italy during the Amoraic and most of the Gaonic 
periods. All eyes seemed turned to the schools in Palestine, 
and subsequently to various cities of Persia. Nearly nine 
centuries had passed since Mathya ben Harash had dis- 
seminated sacred knowledge at Rome, and nothing au- 
thentic was related of the intellectual progress of the thou- 
sands who were brought as captives or who voluntarily 
emigrated to that metropolis and the neighboring cities. 
This lack of information may be attributed, in the main, to 
the wars continually waged throughout Asia by the Roman 
Empire; communication between the Jews of Italy and their 
Eastern brethren being thus cut off. But we may also 
surmise that Judaism in the peninsula, believing that it had 
already received sufficient light from the focus of traditional 
learning—the Holy Land—did not look to Babylon for further 
instruction; hence the absolute silence of the talmudists 
concerning it. It is at the opening of the tenth century 
of the common era, that a Hebrew author, hailing from 
the vicinity of Naples, challenges attention. 

Shabbetai Donnolo, of Oria, born in 913, may well be 
termed the father of our commentators. With a freedom 
of thought befitting an Ibn Ezra, and an acumenrivalling that 
of Maimonides, his explanations of the text aim principally 
to exclude the idea of corporeity in the Creator (Anthropo- 
morphism). His commentary on Sefer Yezirah—which 
the learned of our time have published from a manuscript 
in the Ducal library at Parma*—reveals deep research and 
vast erudition. Deserving of notice are the ideas held out 
that ne-shamah (soul) is analogical to shama-yim (heavens), 
whence it proceeds and whither it will return; and that the 
seat of intelligence is in the highest point of the human frame— 
the skull—in the same manner as the glory of the Deity, the 
Supreme Intelligence, is said to be enthroned in the highest 
point of the universe. 


* His commentary on Sefer Yezirah was published by Geiger in 
his ‘Melo Hofnayim”’, p. 29, and in its entirety by Castelli, ‘Il Com- 
menti di Sabbatai Donnolo sur Libro della Creazione’’, Florence, 1880. 
This is also known by the name of Hakemani or Tahkemoni. [G] 


SHABBETAI DONNOLO 3 


Donnolo, who practised medicine? in Lombardy and 
through Upper Italy for his daily maintenance, found 
time nevertheless to write on exegesis, theology, astronomy— 
blended, of course, with false astrological notions, greatly 
in vogue among the ancients—while he tried his hand also, 
but to little purpose, at versification. And so anxious was 
he to become familiar with writings in Arabic and Greek, 
that he bent his mind on mastering those languages, and 
compassed his object. Interesting as it most assuredly 
would be to possess a full biography of the man who drew 
the attention of the Jewish literary world to Italy, after a 
period of silence extending through centuries, we must still 
rest satisfied with very meagre accounts. 

In 925, hordes of Saracens invaded the Neapolitan 
territories. Ten prominent Israelites fell by the sword, 
and many were taken prisoners; among others, Donnolo and 
his parents. The latter were carried to Africa, and sold there 
as slaves, but their son succeeded by some means in being 
rescued. It appears that the Jews of Otranto, an influential 
congregation, procured his freedom by paying a heavy ran- 
som. At all events, Shabbetai Donnolo, who was then but 
twelve years old, studied in Italian schools, and issued forth 
to grow famous for his versatility of genius, as well as for 
his skill in the medical art. Most of his productions have 
been lost, yet from fragments which remain, the reader 
may be led to award to the author the merit of having 
anticipated in several instances philosophers and scientists 
of later ages, and of having likewise served as a guide to 
Biblical expositors and lexicographers of renown. 

He may be considered the first among Jewish celeb- 
rities whom a thirst for knowledge induced to travel far in 
quest of men, of whatever creed, capable of gratifying his 
longing; and the acquaintance with foreign languages which 
he had gained must have facilitated the accomplishment 


* Steinschneider published in 1867 what is left of Donnolo’s 
medical work ‘Sefer ha-Yakar”’, under the title ‘‘Donnolo, Fragment 
des aeltesten medicinischen Werkes’”’, which contains directions for 
the preparation of herbs for medicinal purposes. [G] 


4 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


of his wish. But of his intercourse with learned contem- 
poraries,’ of the extent of his compositions, of his private 
life and of the year of his death, we are left in ignorance. 
The keen eye of modern criticism has seen only glimpses, 
and with them we must be content. However, a clear 
inference from even the little we have gathered about Shab- 
betai Donnolo is this: In the tenth century of the common 
era, Hebrew literature had reached a high state of culture 
in Italy. Otranto and Bari on the Adriatic could lay claim 
to such pre-eminence that they had become proverbial 
for the spreading of Biblical and oral lore. People thus 
applied to them the sentence of Isaiah’: ‘‘Out of Bari goeth 
forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Ofranto.’’3 


See Gudemann, ha-Torah weha-Hayyim, II, 16, regarding his 
relation to the Abbott Nilus; comp. Jewish Encyclopedia, s. v. [G] 

Purien ae 

3 Since this exceedingly brief sketch was written, David 
Castelli, widely known for his multifarious productions, published at 
Florence (Italy) a large volume, partly in Hebrew and partly in Italian, 
on Sabbatai Donnolo (as he calls the illustrious sage). The author speaks 
at length of the book Hachmoni or Tahkemoni by Donnolo and of his 
comment on the Sepher Yezirah, in connection with the so-called science 
of the Kabbalah, 


Il:—NATHAN -BEN YEHIEL 


The family Acco', in Rome, was noted for learning. 
Yehiel had been invested, early in the eleventh century, 
with the position of chief of the college; and, as such, his 
solution of theological questions became authoritative. 

Of Daniel, the oldest, and Abraham, the youngest, 
among his sons, honorable mention is made by writers of 
later ages. But Nathan won a wider and more lasting re- 
nown through the gigantic work he undertook and brought 
to completion. At a period in which a few manuscripts, 
but, in a greater measure, memory, formed a writer’s main 
resource, he arranged alphabetically all the words met in 
the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud, in the most ancient 
commentaries and homiletic books, or Midrashim, explaining 
them in full, and adding occasional illustrations which 
cast a flood of light on obscure passages in the writings of 
the Rabbis. Even more astonishing than the consummate 
knowledge of the lexicographer in the Jewish literature of his 
time, must appear his acquaintance with languages. Be- 
sides the Italian, his mother tongue—of which he makes 
frequent use in the course of his elucidations—words in 
Persian, Arabic, Greek, and Latin, with which Talmudic 
works abound, find an interpreter in Nathan of Rome. 
And if Benjamin Mussafia,? many centuries after (1645), 
did Hebrew learning a service by his annotations, improving 
on the original with respect to Latin and Greek terms, that 
circumstance does not detract in the least from the merits 
of our author. The labor he had imposed on himself was 


* Acco, according to Rapoport; but later investigation established 
the fact that Yehiel belonged to the Anaw family (degli Mansi, piatelli) 
one of the oldest Jewish families in Italy, descendants of which are still 
flourishing there (Jew. Ency.,s. v. Anawand Family Tree given there.) [G] 

* Benjamin Mussafia, Rabbi in Amsterdam, published a sup- 
plement to an edition of the Aruch, which was issued there in 1655, 
under the title of ‘‘Musaf he-‘Aruk”’, in which he explains the Greek 
and Latin terms found there. [G] 


6 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


immense, and his supply of books of reference exceedingly 
scanty. Mussafia could avail himself of the productions 
of Buxtorf, the elder; Nathan had no guide except his own 
vast erudition; no model save that which his methodical 
mind suggested. 


It is possible that Gershom, called ‘‘the light of the 
captivity’’—universally known as the presiding officer 
of the Worms Synod that prohibited polygamy—hinted 
the idea which Nathan Ben Yehiel carried out. The 
two have been described by some as _ fellow-students, 
and by others as teacher and pupilt. But in either 
capacity the former may have told the latter that his 
brother Machir? had ventured upon a similar work. 
Nevertheless, nothing so extensive and comprehensive had 
ever been attempted before. In fact, the necessity for it 
did not exist, so long as the academies of Sura and Pum- 
beditha continued. The idiom of the Talmud was well 
understood, while the Geonim employed it in their teaching 
and casuistical decisions. But with the close of the colleges 
in the east, and a more general scattering of the learned in 
Israel, words once familiar to many became unintelligible, 
and they would have been entirely obliterated from the 
human mind had not the author of the first lexicon saved 
them from extinction, and by saving them delivered also 
much of rabbinical literature from the moth of ages. 


To form an adequate judgment of his successful labor, 
one must be in the habit of having recourse to it, in order 
to overcome difficulties which the study of the Talmud 
continually presents. Still, one or two of his definitions 
may be cited, to give an idea, however faint, of the diligence 
brought to bear on the task which he assumed. 


t This is the opinion of Rapoport. Kohut, however, claims that 
Nathan could not have been R. Gershom’s immediate disciple (see his 
Introduction to Aruch, p. XII). [G] 

z Machir b. Judah, a brother of R. Gershom, was the author of a 
dictionary, which was known under the name of “Alfa Beta de R. Machir”’ 
This is not extant, but known from references made to it by other 
writers. [G] 


NATHAN BEN YEHIEL 7 


Askarah: In the first chapter of treatise Berakot? we 
find the following: ‘“‘Askarah is like a splinter getting 
entangled in wool which has been combed;”’ an expression 
implying that it is a disease hard to be removed, being 
caused by a particle introducing itself into the throat, and 
closing it up in a manner which produces suffocation. Pos- 
sibly, the term has analogy to the Biblical word sakar, 
as we read in the Psalms: ‘“‘May the mouth of those who 
speak falsehood be closed (yissaker)?”’; or, we may look for 
its derivation to the Greek, meaning some putrid matter 
growing in the wind-pipe and roof of the mouth. In the 
second chapter of treatise Shabbat,} however, it is clearly 
‘stated that ‘“‘Askarah”’ denotes a sickness proceeding from 
some internal derangement, and developing itself in the 
manner explained above. See ‘‘Sarnak’’, which is another 
word conveying the same idea. 


In treatise Yoma,+ we are informed that R.Mathya 
allowed bleeding on the Sabbath to him who suffered with 
“sarnak’’. And in various other places in the Talmud the 
term is obviously explained, when the Rabbis’ remarked, 
that, although since we lost political power, we dare not 
inflict capital punishment, still an Israelite who anciently 
would have deserved hanging, may be punished by God 
with drowning, or with “‘sarnak’’. Sarnaka in Aramaic 
agrees with hanak, ‘‘strangling”’ in Hebrew. 


Kutta: In the eleventh’ chapter of the Mishnah Nega‘im 
we meet with the phrase, Kitta which has fringes. In 
Yelammedenu (Tanhuma) section Beha‘aloteka, ‘‘Kittas 
of fine linen, Kittas of purple.’’ Further. in the same 
volume, speaking of the ordinance of the Zizit, purple 
mantles, and Kittas—wherewith they adorned their per- 


t Berakot 8a [G] 

2 Psalms Ixiii:12 [G] 

3 Shabbat 33b [G] 

4 Yoma 84a [G] 

5 Ketubot 30b; Sanhedrin 37b [G] 
6 Mishnah 7 [G] 


8 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


sons—are not included in the obligation. In the Pesikta,* 
and in Vayikra Rabba it is stated that R. Joshua, son of 
Levi, being in Rome, saw marble pillars covered over with 
tapitias (tapestry), that they might not spoil by being too 
much exposed to the inclemency of the weather. But in 
another copy of the same book, instead of tapitias it is 
written kzttas, showing, at any event, that the word means 
an object intended as a cover. 

Not to fatigue the reader, and still give him a slight 
illustration of the contents of the ‘‘Aruch,”’ two words were 
selected, which called for short and simple definitions. But 
any of its pages will reveal the marvellous acquaintance of 
its author with all which had been written, or orally trans- 
mitted, touching sacred lore, and with what industry and 
perseverance he labored, despite obstacles which would 
have deterred all but an extraordinary man. Upwards 
of seven hundred years have elapsed since Nathan the 
Lexicographer, produced his book, and to this day it justly 
remains a standard to the student of the Talmud. 

In 1824, Moses Landau made a German? version of 
it, with copious annotations, calling the same ‘‘Ma‘arche 
Lashon.’’3 


t Pesikta d’R. Kahana, ed. Buber, 74a, see Buber’s note ad loc.; 
Vayikra Rabba, Emor, 27. [G] 

2 This was the complete Aruch, with Mussafia’s Musaf he-‘ Aruk, 
and copious notes in Hebrew and German by Moses Landau, grandson 
of the famous Ezekiel Landau, to whose memory the book, published 
at Prague, in five volumes, is dedicated. [G] 

3 Since this extremely short sketch was prepared, the Rev. Dr. 
Alexander Kohut, Rabbi of Ahabath Chesed Congragation of New 
York, has published his ‘“Aruch Completum,”’ presenting voluminous 
additions to the original Aruch and enr'ching it with must erudite 
annotations. 


ITII—IMMANUEL OF ROME 


The spirit of Hebrew poetry, whose shattered temple 
was splendidly rebuilt in Andalusia, found votaries also 
along the borders of the Tiberand the Arno. Italian Jews— 
of a nature ardent and vivacious—soon became enamored 
with the effusions of their Spanish coreligionists. The first 
to show how powerful had been the influence of the awaken- 
ed genius was a Roman of the thirteenth century. Charizi’s* 
intellect struck brilliant sparks, and the mind of Immanuel 
was all ablaze. 

In style and in mode of presentation, the two writers 
bear great resemblance to one another. But as Immanuel 
surpasses Charizi in exuberance of wit, so does he exceed 
his prototype in the art of misapplying the wealth of language 
at his command. Charizi,—light and volatile,—utters 
scarcely a word offensive to chastity; Immanuel absolutely 
luxuriates in similes which do not fall short of the loose 
descriptions of his countryman, Boccaccio. There can be 
no extenuating cause for that prostitution of the sacred 
tongue. The apparent wish to display so thorough a 
mastery of the Hebrew as to be able to mould it at will, 
can not excuse the obscene imageries with which the 
poetical work of the Italian Jew teems. The Rabbis? who 


t Judah b. Solomon al-Harizi, was a Spanish Hebrew poet of the 
early part of the thirteenth century. After he translated into Hebrew 
the ‘‘Makamot”’ of the Arabic poet, Hariri, he composed his famous 
work‘' Tahkemoni”’, after the model of Hariri. The ‘‘makama” was a 
favorite style of poetry among the ancient Arabs. It consists of a 
dialogue between the hero, usually the author himself, and another 
person, whose main function is to stimulate the muse of the hero by his 
questions. Each ‘‘makama”’ deals with a specific subject and there is 
no necessary connection with the preceding or with the following. It is 
usually written in rhymed prose, interspersed with short poems (See 
Jew. Ency., s. v.) [G] 

2 See Shulhan Aruk, Orah Hayyim 307:15, where the reading of 
Immanuel’s poems is forbidden even on week days, because of their 
profanity and lasciviousness. This style of writing was the prevalent 


10 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


placed it on the list of prohibited books, were correct in 
their judgment. They saw therein much that was calcu- 
lated to enkindle unruly passions, and that made them 
justly ignore all other considerations. The almost unique 
excellencies of the composition, the reputation of the author 
as a noted commentator and grammarian, did not deter 
them from branding his love songs with the stigma of re- 
proach, as wanton and profane. And yet the condemnation 
rising unbidden on the lips of the right-thinking reader can 
not hold back the swelling tide of admiration of a composition 
studded with literary gems. The ‘‘Mahberoth Immanuel,” 
or ‘‘Immanuel’s Cantos,’”’ consists of poems written on 
various occasions, but collected into a whole and published 
at the instance of an anonymous Maecenas, and probably 
at his expense, to raise the author above want, and dissipate 
the melancholy mood consequent upon the vicissitudes of 
fortune. As in Charizi’s work (the Tahkemoni), there 
is a somewhat loosely connected series of narratives, in 
charming rhythmical prose, each being followed by some 
stanzas, in which the ideas it advances are metrically 
presented. 

Immanuel introduces his readers to a Purim feast held 
at Fermo, in the Marca d’Ancona. A large and merry com- 
pany sit together. Amidst rich viands and sparkling wines 
the conversation turns on love and song. Some boast of a 
poetical vein which never flowed in them; others indulge in 
plagiarism, and strive to palm off stolen ideas as their own; 
and many rehearse poems of our author, but so distorted 
and mutilated as to be scarcely recognizable. This circum- 
stance excites the poet’s anger, and he gives vent to 
feelings of deep mortification. 

There happens to be among the assemblage a man of 
wealth and wide culture, a patron of learning, who stirs 
up Immanuel to imitate Charizi, arranging methodically 
all his effusions, and offering them to the public under some 


one among the Italian poets and novelists of the age and Immanuel 
should not be condemned too severely for adopting the style and manner 
of his Italian contemporaries (comp. Gudemann, I. c., II, 102-3) [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 11 


pleasing fiction; the same opulent friend expressing a 
desire that he himself be chosen as the imaginary associate 
with whom ideas are to be exchanged. The poet consents, 
and, invoking his genius in sublime diction, proceeds to 
describe the munificence of the prince (so he calls his 
fictitious companion), and the streaming light of his poesy, 
which, like a sun, is reflected by all lesser orbs. 


The first canto, or Mahbereth, is devoted to a succinct 
history of his own life. He upbraids Time—whimsical and 
inconstant—which with a coarse hand tears the splendid 
robe wherewith it had once adorned his person; rebukes the 
unfaithfulness of men, who point barbed arrows at the breast 
whose throbbings had proved a generous support to rising 
talent; and with biting sarcasm inveighs against those who 
take advantage of his fall, to strike him with their thorny 
staves, forgetful of the days when the massive rod, which 
his intellect wielded, swallowed up the rods of the greatest 
and the wisest. The prince then gently remonstrates against 
the total yielding of a gigantic mind to gloom and despair. 
Immanuel is comforted: the bright hope of happier days 
dispels somber thoughts. The certainty that he would 
live in the memory of posterity, through his numerous 
productions, reconciles him to past trials, and he breaks 
forth into extravagant expressions of self-praise, distasteful 
yet interesting, for we learn therefrom the numbers and 
characters of his literary works,—all of which, except 
that whereof a sketch is here given, and a commentary 
on Proverbs, remain in manuscript'—and gain also an 
insight into his private life and domestic relations. He 
extols to the sky the virtues of his wife. Her thrift, 
her kindness, her modesty, her piety, and withal her come- 
liness, form the burden of his song. And contemplating 
her righteous serenity amid reverses, he closes his encomium 


t Since this was written, the Christian lover of Hebrew literature, 
the illustrious Pietro Perraeu, the librarian at the royal library in Parma, 
issued a number of works from the pen of Immanuel. [Perreau edited 
several of his commentaries in a very limited edition. See ‘A Christian 
Hebrew Scholar”’, p. 222 note 1. [G]] 


12 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


with thissentiment: ‘‘ Would I were dead, and she the object 
of fond love to a happier being!”’ 

The prince, who had listened with complacence, ven- 
tures the remark, that perhaps the poet considers all 
women as faultless as she whom he has thus extolled. 
This observation brings forth a long tirade against the 
female sex, in which the treacherous Delilah and her like, 
hold a conspicuous place, and in which the poet’s wife is 
again cited in contrast as a single instance of purity 
embosomed in beauty, while other women have no guardian 
over their chastity, save homeliness. 

The second canto opens with the description of a 
public meeting held by adepts in the art of versification. 
Greetings are exchanged, and good humor prevails, when 
some of the company descry a number of females moving 
forward, marshalled by two, whose apparel denotes their 
rank,—one surpassingly fair, the other so extremely ugly 
that the adornments with which she has bedecked herself 
cannot soften in the least her hideous countenance. All 
eyes are riveted on both, all lips breathe in turn words of 
love and words of disgust. The prince then proposes that 
the poet shall delineate the charms of Tamar, the hand- 
some, and that he shall follow with the deformities of 
Beriah, the unsightly. There ensues a dialogue fraught 
with startling wit, in which Biblical sentences are used 
most ingeniously; but, in too many instances, to a purpose 
unseemly and lascivious. 

The third canto may be considered a sequel to the 
preceding. The prince having had a test of the poet’s 
felicitous thoughts and bewitching style, wishes to try how 
far these mental powers could influence a retiring maiden, 
esteemed for her accomplishments and unaffected graces. 
His high-wrought portrait of her person incites a prurient 
curiosity. The poet, unable to control the passion aroused 
within his breast, implores the favor of being shown that 
extraordinary damsel whom no ardor of youth could 
conquer. He sees her, and is struck by her stately figure 
and dignified carriage. He essays to approach her with 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 13 


accents of fervid love. She indignantly rejects his pro- 
posals. Nothing daunted, the poet, in a flight of his 
fervent imagination, indites words suasive and plaintive; 
portrays his misery at her refusal, and craves to be 
restored to happiness by a look of the eyes, whose lustre 
Orion and the Pleiades envy. The high-spirited maiden 
answers the epistle in terms of irony and scorn. She coun- 
sels reserving his amorous songs, which to her are an insult, 
for the unwary, apt to be lured away. As to herself, she is the 
deaf adder that will not hearken to the ‘‘ voice of charmers, 
charming never so wisely.’”’ Amazed by her choice rhetoric 
and seemly demeanor, the poet begins to distrust his own 
powers. The prince jeeringly asks him then to acknowledge 
himself defeated. Stung by the raillery, the writer summons 
fresh courage, and addresses the damsel once again. Fas- 
cinatingly, he feigns to believe she is wounded, but will not 
confess it. He meets with a more withering rebuke, still 
he persists. At length, perseverance vanquishes—the once 
invulnerable heart succumbs. The poet hastens to the 
prince to recount the final result of his siege; but, instead 
of receiving congratulations, he hears bitter self-reproaches, 
utterances that betoken compunction and repentance. 
The patron had transcended the limits of discretion. He 
had believed that his gifted protege would be foiled in 
every attempt, and thus he could enjoy bantering the 
poet on his failure. The idea that he had cruelly exposed 
his step-sister to the flatteries of a troubadour cut him 
to the quick, and he commanded that she be forthwith 
informed of the design on her feelings. To calm the 
agitated prince, the poet writes, pointing to caution 
as a future panoply; inexorableness of purpose as the 
only buckler to ward off the poisoned strokes of men’s 
falsities. The damsel reads and grieves; becomes incon- 
solable, pines away and dies; and the author of her sorrow, 
broken in spirit, laments the departed fragrance of the spot- 
less lily he had wantonly trampled under foot. 
The fourth canto carries us before the prince ten years 
after the occurence narrated. He regrets that the poet, who 


14 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


had made existence joyful, moved far away by reason of a 
misfortune that could not be altered. Anxious to bring 
him back to his palace, he commits his thoughts to paper, 
renews the assurance of his patronage, and urges a speedy 
return to the spot dedicated to song. The object of his 
searching is found much changed in appearance through 
the decade which had glided by. Thesad past isdwelt upon 
and deprecated; the absence of staunch friends during the 
interval elapsed furnishes a mournful theme to, the poet, 
and, drawing a contrast, he lavishes praises in great pro- 
fusion on his Maecenas, so generous, and so appreciative, 
irrigating the thirsty soul with the copious showers of his 
gifts, quickening the dispirited by the smiles of his approval. 
The prince inquires of the poet, whether he had composed 
a lament on advancing age, and whether the intellect which 
whilom towered above all, had been lowered by the un- 
sparing hand of time. 

These queries elicit two poems, in which the writer, 
though chiding old age for stealing away his genius, exhibits 
it with undiminished force. Exquisitely fine is his rep- 
resentation of the shadow of youth stepping back ten degrees 
and his appeal to Isaiah‘ to restore it to its pristine state. 
In another lengthy poem, the writer illustrates his former 
mastery of the art of writing, by describing an adventure 
with Ofra, whom he enchains to his will. But his figures of 
speech, and the encomium he bestows on his abilities, 
offend the sense of propriety. Better pleased will be the 
sober mind to rest on his delineation of human heedlessness, 
when age bids us prepare for crossing that bridge of sighs 
spanning the brook which ends where eternity begins. 
The faithful may also derive satisfaction in perusing Im- 
manuel’s metrical composition on the thirteen creeds of 
Maimonides; but neither pleasure nor satisfaction can ac- 
crue from his indelicate allusions and immoderate self-praise. 

The fifth canto begins with a: dialogue between the 

* The reference is to Isaiah xxxviii.3 (comp. II Kings xx.9-11)s 


to the sign which was given to Hezekiah that he would be healed of 
his sickness. [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME a5 


prince and the poet, to entertain a company on the Feast of 
Purim. Various subjects are discussed: excessive fondness 
for sleeping, intemperance, love and hatred, friendship, 
jealousy, avarice; but each of them—attractive as it 
certainly is, because of the flow of wit which permeates it— 
presents the same objectionable feature. Some of the meta- 
phors are sheer immodesty. 


The sixth canto purports to be a vindication of Italo- 
Hebraicwriters. Atalarge meeting of friends, the question 
arises as to whom is due the palm for excellence in poetical 
effusions. Some name the Arabo-Spanish; others, the 
Jews of Southern France. Italy receives but scant praise. 
Immanuel remains silent, till a Provencal makes the boast 
that none dare compete with his countrymen, for he alone 
could shame all present into silence. The Roman looks 
around, and beholds humiliation painted on every count- 
enance. He cries out: “‘Men! who is he that so asperses 
our honor, and belittles our greatness? Be not dismayed; 
I will go forth and fight your battles, and if I do not break 
this braggart’s lance in a hundred shivers, I shall bear 
your everlasting reporach.’’ The assemblage applauds. 
He then challenges the Provencal to come forward, and 
let the waves of his sapience roll on; he will soon hedge 
him in on all sides. The trial agreed upon is that to every 
question propounded, our poet shall give, as a fitting and 
rhythmical answer, a quotation from the Scriptures. Over 
three hundred times does the querist put his opponent to 
a severe test; but the suitable reply is always at hand. 
This production is truly a rich treat to the Hebraist. No 
straining of the sense, no far-fetched citations mar its 
smoothness. All that is said is so precise, so exactly to the 
point, that it seems as if it were written in Holy Writ for 
that special purpose. 


The seventh canto is, ostensibly, a complaint over the 
fate of some women ill-matched with boorish husbands, and 
over the follies of a self-conceited grammarian, wedded to a 
prudish wife. We might wish it had never been penned, fora 


16 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


treasure of ideas and a stream of eloquence are wasted in 
concocting a tissue of obscenities. 

The eighth canto is an appreciable improvement on the 
former. The poet narrates to the prince that, in imitation 
of the immortal Gabirol, he had indited a song of two 
hundred verses. Its purpose was to administer a gentle 
reproof to a bosom friend who, endowed with brilliant talents 
and brimful of erudition, still let his buoyant temperament 
carry him, at times, into the arms of seductive pleasures. 
That poem may be regarded as agarland woven for the brow 
of his erring friend, and a crown of thorns for his own head. 
In it the writer frankly acknowledges his shortcomings, and 
the superiority of him whom he sought to reclaim to virtue; 
but the production which follows it, and which was elicited 
when the same friend wended his steps to foreign climes, 
surpasses the other in fluency and richness of imagery. 
Every sentence is a diamond set in gold. The friend in 
whose converse he took delight is likened to a Jordan of 
limpid water, healing the spirit that languishes; to the pot 
of manna lying close to the Ark of the Covenant—a precious 
relic of God’s wonders. He bids his song go, traverse seas, 
climb steep ascents; and, when the faithful friend is met, 
tell him ever to cherish the memory of the days in which 
he had built a royal mansion in the chamber of his heart. 
The Prince admires that manly affection, and the manner in 
which it is exhibited; but he asks whether it had always been 
reciprocated, for report said that a certain writer treated 
the poet with contumely, applying to him opprobrious epi- 
thets. To disabuse the mind of his patron of such a mis- 
apprehension, Immanuel gives a characteristic account of 
the blunders of his antagonist, and of the letter in which 
he had scourged the presumptuous scribbler. 

From the contents of that missive we gather the infor- 
mation that our author prided himself on the possession of 
a recondite knowledge, based upon a mystical interpretation 
of the Bible—whether akin to the theories of Kabbalism or 
not, it would be difficult to decide. The prince relishes the 
piquant raillery he has just heard, and asks that he may 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 17 


retain a transcript to read and laugh over, when feeling 
dull. The poet observes, that if he looks for something 
which will put melancholy to flight, and usher in good 
humor, he must have a narrative of what had transpired 
between himself and Rabbi Aaron. 

The old man had come to Paris with a large box of 
valuable books in the Hebrew and Arabic languages. There 
he met Immanuel, in company with some learned friends. 
He gave the box in their charge, stating that he was going 
to Rome, and would be back in a month. But he warned 
them that the books should not be taken out, since he had 
spent years in procuring them, and he feared they might 
be mislaid, torn, or improperly used. Scarcely had he 
gone, when Immanuel, burning with the desire to read the 
rare works, of which he had seen the list, forced open the box, 
selected the best manuscripts, copied them and incited his 
companions to do likewise. Rabbi Aaron came back at the 
stated time, and perceiving what had been done, grew furious. 
No apology could pacify him. Immanuel, ever ready with 
witty sayings, sought facetiously to turn away wrath, but to 
no purpose. Rabbi Aaron left in high dudgeon. The poet 
who had known him long, and respected his character and 
learning, addressed him in a style pre-eminently beautiful, 
such as the reader, who understands, may be inspired to 
bless therefor the Divine Power “who created the utterance 
of the lips”’; lamenting at the same time that the highly 
gifted Immanuel should ever have employed his powers of 
utterance in the service of a perverted taste. 

The ninth canto includes a song on every month of 
the year, in imitation of a poem on the same topic by 
Charizi—our author’s ideal of a Hebrew writer—and an- 
other on arts and sciences, on countries and their tongues, 
similar to Italian compositions of that nature, concluding 
with a summary of Immanuel’s linguistic attainments, and 
of his numerous travels. 

The tenth canto begins with a jeremiad by the poet 
on his departed prosperity, which the prince knows how to 
convert into a canticle by touching a weak spot in his 


cp Bethe ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


protege’s excessive vanity. He is assured that none is 
so rich as himself, before whom the golden gates of learning 
stand wide open; that all men rejoice over valueless posses- 
sions, but he alone has garnered priceless treasures. The 
wisdom which drops from his lips is waited for like the 
morning dew; even then the elders of the city may be look- 
ing for the arrival in their midst of so elegant and finished a 
speaker, that they might listen to the doctrines he instils. 
Thus suasively is he led forth and, reaching the place where 
he is welcomed, joins the prince in laying down short but 
pithy maxims on religion and morals. To these is appended 
a eulogy of one of his admirers, too hyperbolical to impress 
the disinterested reader pleasantly. 

The eleventh canto presents the poet in the garb of a 
physician prescribing to a female, so sqgeamish and fastidious 
that she fears pollution by a touch of her pulse. His rec- 
ipe under these circumstances excites much merriment, and 
the prince bursting into laughter improvises a madrigal, to 
which our author responds in the same strain. Sonnets of 
mutual admiration continue to be interchanged at some 
length; finally the patron accords the palm to his poet, and 
wondering whence he had drawn that ever-flowing stream 
of knowledge, Immanuel mentions Maimonides as the mighty 
source of hiserudition. Very pertinently he pronounces the 
books of the sage of Cordova queens, in comparison to 
which others are waiting-maids following directions. But 
very unlike the austere philosopher of Andalusia, the Roman 
regales the sportive taste of his friends with a metrical 
description of the Hebrew alphabet—the letters of which, 
he asserts, point to psychological, metaphysical, and natu- 
ral sciences—and creates perfect ecstasy by a missive written 
with words capable of an entirely opposite meaning, and 
another, which, when read regularly, sounds as a blessing, 
transposed isacurse. This play of words reaches its climax 
when the prince charges our author to send a secret communi- 
cation, composed exclusively of Biblical names, to some 
members of his family. The skill displayed is notably great. 
Thus, for instance, to relate, among other private affairs. 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 19 


that his brother Moses, who had roamed abroad, and 
was taken prisoner, had gained his liberty, he wrote— 
Eleazar Mosheh Ahi; Orah Hori—‘God helped Moses, my 
brother; the wanderer (is) free.’ 

After such a feat of ingenuity the prince ceases to try 
the poet; and, as a constant memento from the man whose 
genius he idolizes, begs for and receives ten lines of didactic 
poetry, which he places‘in the room where he prayed and 
studied. 

The twelfth canto is a noble tribute to a relative and 
friend, adorned with rare virtues, and to one of his intimate 
associates, equally learned, if not equally famous. Of the 
first, the poet speaks in language whose every syllable 
breathes gratitude, for Leon Romano it was that kindled in 
his bosom the spark which time fanned into an unquenchable 
flame. Leon Romano,‘ with a generous hand, had unfasten- 
ed bolts and bars, and led Immanuel into the hidden cham- 
bers, where he had been whilom wedded to the Hebrew 
Muse. And yet the man so favored had purloined nuptial 
gifts—pearls and rubies, agates and amethysts, and with 
them had he purchased admiration. A confession couched 
in the terms which our poet alone could mould, commands 
unconditional forgiveness. A compensation made in sweet 
distiches, in the outpouring of sentiments, now soft as the 
tones of an aeolian harp, anon grand as the deep swelling of 
an organ, is full and gracious. Would it were in the power 
of him that draws this sketch to reproduce such thoughts in 
the vernacular! But nothing approaching the original 
can he hope to offer; hence silence is best. 


t Judah ben Moses, better known as Leon Romano, the Philosopher, 
was an outstanding figure in Roman Jewry during the life of Immanuel. 
He was born in 1292 at Rome and he was thus a younger contemporary 
and also a relative of Immanuel. He translated several of the well- 
known medieval philosophical works and also wrote a commentary on 
Maimonides’ ‘Sefer ha-Madda’. He was reported to have been the 
teacher of King Robert of Naples. He died after 1350. Immanuel 
always speaks of him in the highest terms of praise (see further p. 47; 
comp. Vogelstein und Rieger, Geschichte der Juden in Rom, I, 440-442; 
Gudemann, I. c. 128-129). [G] 


20 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


In the song to Benjamin,‘ his intimate associate, Leon 
Romano, figures again conspicuously; for, seemingly, 
Immanuel was never weary in rehearsing the praises of the 
preceptor of King Robert of Naples, the favorite of fortune, 
before whom, as he exquisitely expresses it, the muses made 
obeisance, and science prostrated herself seven times to the 
earth. 


The thirteenth canto makes us acquainted with an- 
other poetical character; Leon? also by name, from South 
Italy. He had addressed Immanuel in rhyme, possibly to 
comfort him, when a target to afflictions, pressed hard by 
creditors, frowned upon by the rich, whose assumed liber- 
ality he had celebrated in verses. Leon Siciliano was also 
poor; and, as he eked out a scanty livelihood by improvising, 
bartering the creations of his prolific mind for the coin that 
bought his daily bread, and by teaching the young, he may 
naturally have sympathized with his fellow-poet in his 
sore plight. But his letter arrived at a season during 
which Immanuel was unfit to answer in his wonted style. 
As he tells us, the lyre hung on the weeping willow, while 
he was drinking to the dregs the cup of gall and wormwood. 


Two summers passed ere he emerged from the sea of 
trouble, but his genius awoke, and in four poems, succes- 
sively written, he acknowledged his indebtedness to the 
“rising star’’ guiding the perplexed. To the prince, who 
listens and marvels, the author owns his inferiority to 
Leon Siciliano, in metrical compositions, though he pro- 
nounces himself his equal, if not his superior, in rhythmical 
prose. In fact, Immanuel is not always felicitous in the 
former. The severe restrictions which Hebrew poets of 
the Middle Ages voluntarily accepted from the Arabs, 
and with which they burdened their successors,—the rules 


* Benjamin ben Judah Bozecco, born in Rome in 1295,was an exegete 
and grammarian and wrote several works which are still in manuscript. 
(Vogelstein und Rieger, I. c., 388-392; Gudeman, I. c., 133) [G] 

2 Judah Siciliano al-Sha’ari, was a poet who composed a riming 
dictionary, which is preserved in manuscript at Oxford and Rome 
(Vogelstein und Rieger, I. c., 445). [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 21 


of Yated and Tenuah,' so exacting and oppressive—robbed 
his verses, in a measure, of spontaneity and of music. At 
all events, they do not equal, in ease and grace, the Melizah, 
or unencumbered style of prose in a rhythmical dress. 
Thus, for example, his elegy on the demise of his father- 
in-law—embodied in this same canto—teems with beauties. 
The plaintive strains echo in our breasts, when he cries: 

Fate severs, at the mournful hour of death, 

The cords that bind men tightly, heart to heart. 

Alas! my friend revered has left the earth— 

O bonds of love, relax not! Closer draw 

His soul and mine, until I too, depart. 

Nevertheless, his choice diction in prose might have deep- 
ened the tone of that funeral song. 

The fourteenth canto, composed to arouse the prince, 
when laboring under a fit of dejection, is both a satire and a 
rebuke, conveying a wholesome lesson. A certain Moses 
of Rome, much regarded for his beneficence, was married to 
a wicked woman, named Rosalie. She gave birth to a 
child, whom he called Daniel, but who grew to be as wicked 
as King Manasseh. Unable to live with a scold, and finding 
he could not control his son, whom the mother encouraged 
to all sorts of mischief, he decided to leave for unknown 
parts. He settled in Greece, and for twenty years gained 
riches by his industry, and the love of people by his kind- 
ness. Being taken very ill, and feeling he would die, he 
sent for some reliable friends, and spoke thus: “‘I choose you 
for my executors, entrusting to your hands the large for- 
tune I have amassed. Write to Rome, to Daniel, my only 
heir; but exercise great caution, and be guided by the proofs 
which will place his claims beyond a shadow of doubt.”’ 
They promised to follow the instruction received. The man 
having expired, was buried with the honors due to a pious 
and upright Jew. Shortly after, a letter arrived at Rome, 
directed to some of the authorities, requesting that the son 

t “Yated’’ the composition of the vocal sheva and the syllable, and 


the ‘‘Tenu‘ah”’, the syllable itself, form the basis of the Hebrew meter 
fashioned after the Arabic. [G] 


22 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


of the deceased be sought for, and furnished with the 
documents confirming his title to the property. But, before 
Daniel could be found the news had circulated everywhere 
in the city. All persons at Rome knew of the letter and its 
contents. 

An unprincipled fellow, named Ephraim, took time by 
the forelock, thinking he might, through his stupendous 
shrewdness, succeed in getting that of which Daniel would 
make no better use than himself. Bent upon that scheme, 
he let his beard grow; he dressed in a suit of black, and, 
travelling in great haste, reached the place where Moses 
had resided. He put up at an inn, and sent immediately 
an errand boy with this message to some of the principal 
Jews: ‘‘Daniel, who mourns for his father, has come, and 
wishes to be taken to the sacred spot where the paternal 
remains lie.’’ The men followed the boy to the inn, where 
Ephraim wept and lamented, exhausting every word of 
endearment on the memory of the parent he reverenced. 
All seemed moved, and accompanied the inconsolable son 
to the grave of his father. When there, he burst into a 
flood of tears, and sobbingly exclaimed, ‘“‘Father, dear 
father, good and blessed father, I will go to the grave where- 
unto you have been lowered.”’ With that he tore his clothes, 
shrieked, and struck his breast, to such a degree that men 
had to hold him, lest he do himself injury. The next day 
the same scene was enacted, with some additions, for 
he threw himself upon the naked earth, as if eager to feed 
on the very dust that covered his father’s body. The spec- 
tators could not but believe that he was a sorrow-stricken 
man, a true mourner, feeling intensely the loss of his father. 
And as the pseudo-son requested that prayers be said over 
the grave, and largely distributed alms to the poor in mem- 
ory of the dead, he created the impression on every mind 
that he joined piety with filial affection. Some weeks 
elapsed, and Ephraim continued to appear sad and discon- 
solate. As a testimony of his veneration, he had a high 
monument erected, and with his own hand he wrote this 
epitaph: ‘Here righteousness lies entombed; the crown of 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 23 


nobility is hidden beneath the sod. Daniel overwhelmed 
with affliction, the son who loved his father while he lived, 
and refused to be comforted at his death, has laid the yield- 
ing of his faded joy upon this cold earth.” 

A full month had now passed, every day of which 
Ephraim was seen at the synagogue, arrayed in Tallith and 
Tephillin, making his devotions with every indication 
of fervor. He never questioned the people of the city about 
the patrimony, and the executors who considered him intent 
upon the performance of good deeds, and indifferent about 
wealth, determined to let him know that a vast fortune was 
his legitimate possession. Not to commit offense by ques- 
tions implying suspicion, they waived their right to inquire 
about the requisite documents, and gave over to him all 
that the good man had bequeathed to his son Daniel. 

With tearful eyes the consummate rogue received the 
property, and desired to have it announced that he was 
ready to discharge any debt his father might have contracted 
during his sickness or prior to it, and any that he himself 
might unknowingly have left unpaid. He was told not to 
give himself any concern, for he owed nothing, and the 
deceased was too correct in his dealings not to have met his 
obligations without delay. They wished him every happi- 
ness; and he, fearing to remain any longer, departed with 
the fruit of his villainy. 

Two years had glided by, when Daniel, who had at 
length been found, and obtained the authoritative proofs 
of his birth and descent, presented himself before the exe- 
cutors of his father’s will. He made no inquiries about his 
deceased parent, about the place of his internment, nor 
anything else, save of the money, which he claimed as his 
own. Nonecredited hisstatement; his conduct prejudiced all 
minds against his character; but, when the documents were 
produced, a division of opinion took place. Some thought 
he who had come already, and enriched himself with the 
substance of the late Moses, was an unmitigated hypocrite; 
others held, that this one ought to be disbelieved, notwith- 
standing the papers he had brought. The executors felt 


24 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


somewhat disconcerted, but took the claimant severely to 
task regarding his unnatural behavior. They remarked 
that if he were the real son he would have shown it bysome 
token of grief; that his complete apathy respecting the author 
of his existence, and his anxiety to get the silver and gold 
he had bequeathed, stamped him at once as an impostor. 
They could not account for the producing of the testimonials 
—which, however, had been very long in coming—but they 
contrasted the demeanor of the man who, two years since, 
had bestowed every mark of reverence on the memory of 
the departed, and without asking once whether Moses had 
died poor or rich, had dispensed of his own with a liberal 
hand, and behaved decorously, piously, and gentlemanly, 
besides having set up a tombstone worthy of being pointed 
to as a monument of filial tenderness. They added that 
the absence of the slightest show of dutifulness on the part 
of the new claimant led them to think that he was his 
mother’s illegitimate son, taking advantage of his knowledge 
of family affairs to practise imposition. 

Daniel, discovering that he had been supplanted by a 
knave, and that all his remonstrances and quarrels would be 
of no avail, left the place breathing curses, and returned 
home to inform his mother of the barren issue of his journey. 
She listened, and tore off the widow’s weeds put on for the 
occasion. She felt too glad, she said, chiming in with 
Daniel, that neither herself nor her son had wasted a tear 
over the loss of the man whose money they could not enjoy. 

The prince was much entertained by the story told with 
finished elegance of language, and, having laughed heartily 
at the air of sanctimoniousness the subtle Epharim had mani- 
fested, and the crocodile tears he had profusely shed, in- 
quired how it was at last with the double-faced wretch. 
The poet answered: ‘‘You ought to have known that Eph- 
raim was what the Bible describes him, ‘A cake that has 
not been turned’?; that is, a thing of no account, no one 
cares for it, and it is cast to the dunghill. The ill gotten 


* Hosea vii.8 [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 25 


money did not change the villian’s nature. The substance 
quickly gathered in was quite as fast turned out. The 
hypocrite and the undutiful child now fare alike.” 

The story is supplemented by a diatribe against oft- 
successful hypocrisy, pretentious ignorance and vice strut- 
ting in the garments of virtue. When our author had 
ended, the prince addressed his guests as follows: ‘‘ You have 
heard sublime sentiment in fitting language. This man has 
verily sucked dry the breast of knowledge; yet he has a 
weak body, enfeebled by the strokes of adversity. Were 
he robust and opulent, would not his powers turn creation 
itself into a flowery garden?” “‘No’’, interrupted the poet; 
“strength and riches are not to be the accompaniments of 
learning; they are given rather as a cover to deficiencies. 
A well shaped white neck needs not a golden chain,” and, 
seizing the opportunity, Immanuel expatiates on the utility 
of wisdom, on the effect of a correct education, and the 
importance of preparing the mind for the reception of 
thoughts that purify and exalt. 

The fifteenth canto sets forth a theory which the prince 
advances in vindication of the ways of Providence, and which 
the poet is unprepared to admit. The former lays it down 
as a demonstrable fact, that, though most men complain of 
their lot, none would exchange hisown for that of another. To 
prove it, he proposes they should travel together, stop per- 
sons on the road, question them closely, and judge whether, 
by properly arguing, a confession will not be elicited that, 
after all, they have cause to be satisfied with their own con- 
dition. The conversation they held with many individuals 
affords, in several instances, moral instruction; in other its 
illustrations are frivolous and vulgar; in one case intensely 
ludicrous. They met witha Hazzan. He looked seedy and 
ill-fed. His voice was remarkably strong; his family not- 
ably large. He had often been at his wits’ ends to discover 
how to provide for their daily wants. The prince, ac- 
costing him, said: ‘“‘Would you like to exchange positions 
with Mr. A. who is talented, rich, has a good-looking wife 
and bright-minded children?” ‘‘To be sure I would!” 


26 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


was the instantaneous reply. ‘‘But”’, rejoined the prince, 
“would you be willing, in order to get what he possesses, 
to lose your beautiful voice, and have his instead?”’ ‘‘Oh, 
no; not that!’ said he, ‘for he has the roughest voice I 
ever heard; his singing is a bark. But when I raise mine 
at Kedushah or Yozer, the fountains of song open wide. 
And on Kippur, or Purim, or any of the holidays, whether 
I chant a psalm, read a Haftarah, or even sing Lamentations 
on Tish‘ah b’Ab, why, all are struck dumb. I make them 
shed tears. I make them rejoice. Oh, no! Were Mr. A. 
to offer me all his wealth, he should not have my voice.”’ 

The sixteenth canto may be compared to an edifice 
of magnificence without, but foul within. Despite the 
linguistic graces lavished upon it, we see holiness forced 
to bow at the shrine of profanity. 

The seventeenth canto (a continuation of the preceding) 
is a wager among three—the prince, the poet, and the hus- 
band of a neglected wife. She was to be given to him that 
improvised best, and her former connubial relation was to be 
broken off. But to the undisguised chagrin of the prince 
the husband vanquished his antagonists, alike in sonnets 
and in the solving of proposed riddles. 

The eighteenth canto narrates a controversy between 
the poet and one of his nephews. This relative, led astray 
by vainglory, did not scruple to court popularity to the 
detriment of the moral interests of his superior in age and 
abilities. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, he 
would boast of ranking foremost among individuals noted 
for their retentive memory. To prove it, he would then 
repeat almost verbatim a lecture he had heard, or a con- 
versation which had been carried on in some foreign 
language. One day he gathered quite a number of intelli- 
gent persons about him, and in their presence stated that, 
just in proportion as his mind was tenacious in holding 
what he had once heard, so was his overrated uncle apt to 
forget. And with a great flourish of rhetoric he proceded 
to repeat historical events, blended with occurrences hatch- 
ed in his own imagination, to name also personages and ob- 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 27 


jects of antiquity with a very glib tongue. Immanuel felt 
it was both unkind and unnatural in his sister’s child to act 
thus, and told him openly that the erudition he paraded was 
foam and bubbles; that all he remembered benefited him 
naught because it was perfectly irrelevant. He had not 
shown, for example, that he could quote the Bible in- 
discriminately, speak intelligently of the various interpreta- 
tions given to difficult passages, of the grammatical rules 
evolved therefrom; of what had been written by the ancients 
on exegesis, and what on the volumes of ancestral traditions. 
And so long as, instead of enlightening his hearers by an 
account of the works of a Hayug,a Kimchi, or an Ibn Daud, 
he contented himself with recounting how a certain ruler 
was wont to dress, how strong was his retinue, how many 
were his vassals and his slaves, how many horses and mules, 
rare birds and precious jewels he possessed, and similar 
trivial matters, the narrator could not lay claim to public 
veneration. He might be sure that on such a ground he 
would never meet his uncle as a rival. The chain of the 
poet’s thoughts was made of an entirely different material. 
He had also studied men and their nature, but in connection 
with anatomy, physiology, pathognomy—sciences which 
expand the human mind; and, as regards the mere recol- 
lection of names, he could set chronologically in array those 
of sages and authors, of books and pamphlets. He con- 
tended that the wisdom of one who designed a great building 
bears no comparison with that of him who founded a 
philosophical system, nor the knowledge of distances be- 
tween villages and towns with that of the distances of 
planets from the earth. He cared nothing about the manner 
in which some magnate whiled away his life, what amuse- 
ments he liked best, and what instruments he preferred, but 
he valued, for instance, an acquaintance with the sacred 
functions of the high priest at the temple, and whatever 
appertained to the olden worship of the chosen race. And 
in this strain Immanuel continued at considerable length, till 
the indiscreet youth shrank within himself abashed, and 
became cured of his presumption. 


28 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


The prince sympathised with the poet, who had to 
cope with two antagonists: literary jealousy and strait- 
ness of means. He lamented that such should often 
be the fate of the great, and by his kindly utterances 
drew forth.a tribute of thanks due to him as a patron of 
learning, and a cutting satire on the penuriousness of most 
of the wealthy, and especially of those who, by a sudden turn 
of the wheel of fortune, have been lifted from obscurity to 
prominence. The poet nevertheless candidly admits that 
honorable exceptions can be met to a rule which is very 
general; and, warming up into a humor brimful of facetious- 
ness, he offers a richer entertainment than he enjoyed, by 
the description of a dinner at the table of an opulent 
Israelite, whom he paid with sonnets. 


The nineteenth canto shows a complete metamorphosis. 
He that had just appeared in the garb of a parasite assumes 
the form of a moralist. Immanuel sets forth, to the edifi- 
cation of his hearers, sublime truths, to which may fitly 
be applied the Scriptural simile, ‘‘Apples of gold in set- 
tings of silver.”* The author had intended them for a 
young scholar evincing so much gentleness of spirit, purity 
of character, and such yearning for what is goodand beautiful 
that his teacher built on those traits the brightest hopes. 
The sentences are almost perfection itself. Gabirol teeming 
with lessons of humility; Halevi, full of pathos; the Ibn 
Ezras, pithy and ardent, would not be brought down from 
their high pedestal had they penned those verses. In 
fact, a striking similarity in thought and style, especially 
with the first-named, may in some instances be traced 
in this canto. Thus one of the prayers, ostensibly written 
for the prince, who craved to be inspired to righteousness 
by doctrines like those instilled into the mind of the youthful 
pupil, contains a passage which every reader will recognize 
as the counterpart of another by the immortal Andalusian: 


“Tf thou, O God! slayest me, still will I 
hold fast to hope. Rejected by Thee 


t Proverbs xxv. 11. [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 29 


I will flee to Thee for help; the wings 
of Thy mercy shall cover me. 

From Thy consuming wrath I will be sheltered 

in the shade of Thy loving kindness.’’! 

Doubtless the two poets lighted upon the same ideas. 
It would be ungracious to suspect of theft the Italian, so 
abundant in literary resources. 

The twentieth canto is a panorama of objects numerous 
and diverse; some completely beautiful, other hideous in 
the extreme. As they are made to pass before our vision, 
we behold now the genius of poetry; anon, but an impure 
spirit. In a poem redolent of sweet love and chaste joy, 
our feelings are shocked by gross vulgarities. Nor are these 
the only contrasts. Abstruse ideas, befitting the books 
of a Saadia better than a collection of songs, are presented 
as a display of learning, while astronomical theories singu- 
larly form a theme for stanzas. One moment a dolt plays 
his pranks, in another moment a sage enchains the at- 
tention by the gravest thoughts. A medley of suggestive 
ideas, bright images, glowing expressions, piquant railleries, 
and inordinate poetical licenses constitute the tout d‘ensemble 
of this canto. 

The twenty-first canto has unity of thought. Itspeaks 
of death solemnly, and with touches of deep pathos. Each 
elegy is a lesson tending to humble pride, soften the 
feelings, and draw us aside from the fleeting pleasures of 
earth, to fit us for that eternal home where a contem- 


t Keter Malkut, canto 38, in Davidson’s edition, pp. 118, lines 
562-4 and Davidson’s note on p. 186. Zangwill translates this as 
follows: 

Therefore, though Thou shouldst slay me, yet will I trust in 

Thee. 

For if Thou shouldst pursue my iniquity, 

I will flee from Thee to Thyself, 

And I will shelter myself from Thy wrath in Thy shadow. 
Prof. Louis Ginzberg called my attention to the fact that the sentiment 
in these verses is found also in the Koran, whence Gabirol probably 
drew his inspiration. (Comp. also Dukes in Monatsschrift VIII. 235 
quoting Ibn Chalikan I. 394 as a parallel to Gabirol) [G] 


30 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


plation of Supreme goodness will be the reward of the 
righteous. The earnest monitions offered throughout 
might be deemed emanations of an Ibn Pakuda, were it 
not for the turgid style of a funeral panegyric which the 
author very oddly composed for himself. True, he admits 
that the writing must be regarded as a compliance with the 
wish of his patron, and that its character allows indulgence 
in hyperbole. But the thoughtful will scarcely fail to 
detect in it a pompous exhibition of knowledge of men and 
books, a reiteration of self-praise, which even the idea 
of being shrouded and coffined could not repress. The 
context does not favor the consruction which a renowned 
German biographer: places on that composition; namely, 
that Immanuel intended it as a satire on the exaggerations 
indulged in by orators while eulogizing the dead. 

The contents of the twenty-second canto are intensely 
ludicrous. A Hebraist cannot help enjoying over them many 
ahearty laugh. Immanuel doubtless caught the inspiration 
from Charizi, in his description of a Reader in the synagogue, 
whose blunders equalled in size the turban he wore, and the 
flowing beard he had let grow, to give himself an air of 
importance. But he surpasses his model by the variety of 
subjects represented, and by lively witticisms. It is al- 
together impossible to show in our vernacular how perfectly 
comical is the effect of the answers given to questions put 
by self-conceited dullards. The author pretends to have 
been consulted oracularly by sixty persons on the inter- 
pretation of several sentences from the Bible and the Rabbis. 
They believed that he alone could relieve their minds from 
disturbing doubts, little knowing that the discrepancies dis- 
covered were the offspring of their stupidity. The manner 
in which he reconciles every supposed incongruity, without 
undeceiving the foolish querists, is humorous beyond des: 
cription. As just stated, this canto must be read in the 
original. No translation can come near its meaning; but, to 

* Dr. Graetz, as the writer of this sketch was, on inquiry, kindly 


informed by Dr. M. Jastrow. [Geschichte der Juden’’ (1873), vol. 
VIII, p. 294 [G]] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 31 


afford the English reader a faint idea of its purport, a few 
passages will be cited. 

A man, who was considered to have bestowed great 
attention on the construction of the Biblical language, 
addressed our author thus: “‘Say, thou famous commentator, 
why does Holy Writ express itself so carelessly by stating 
that Adam told God that the woman had given him of the 
tree (‘etz)! and hedideat? It ought surely to have written 
‘she gave me some of the fruit.’’’ ‘‘No’’, was the reply, 
‘for it means that she took a stick (‘etz) and gave him a 
sound beating, till he consented to do as she had done.”’ 

Another eagerly inquired, ““Can Solomon call a wife 
virtuous who ‘maketh fine linen,’? and, instead of using it 
for her husband and children, selleth it again?’”’ ‘‘Yes’’, 
said Immanuel, ‘‘for she sold it cheaply to the rabbis, to 
make Taletoth with it.” 

‘“‘T am quite astonished,”’ exclaimed a third “that Isaiah 
should have invited ‘every one that thirsteth to come for 
water.’3 It would have been more generous in the prophet 
to have provided sweet wine.’ ‘‘Very likely,’’ observed 
our author, “‘it was the week in which the Fast of Ab happens, 
when, by reason of national troubles suffered, we dare drink 
no wine.” 

“T cannot obtain the sense of a phrase in the book of 
Aboth (Ethics of the Fathers),” cried out a sapient scholar. 
“It is written that ‘he who gets much flesh (‘‘Basar,”’ viz., 
flesh or meat) gets worms,’ Now, thou who art thoroughly 
conversant with the style used by our sages, must satisfy 
my literary curiosity, for I have seen persons buy plenty of 
flesh (‘basar’) without its raising vermin, because what they 
don’t use immediately they salt and put away.’’ ‘Ah! 
you seem not to be aware of what shrewd commentators have 
discovered in this passage,’’ was the answer; “‘it is, according 
to them, a wholesome advice to butchers not to get in the 


t Genesis iii.6. [G] 

2 Proverbs xxxi.18 [G] 
3 Isaiah lv.1. [G] 

4 Abot ii.8 [G] 


ITALIAN H EBREW LITERATURE 


summer months much more meat than they can readily 
dispose of.” 

But the puns on words spelled differently and pro- 
nounced by the Italian Jews (Minhag Italiani) alike, as 
““zetim”’ (olives), and “‘zedim”’ (arrogant), “‘eben’’ (stone) 
and “avon” (iniquity), “‘hazir’’ (grass), and ‘‘hazir”’ 
(swine)—that jeu de mots running through this canto—can- 
not in the slightest degree be reproduced. 

The twenty-third canto portrays the ailments and 
mortification of a poetaster. He had applied to Immanuel, 
noted for his medical skill, and had received some pres- 
cription, with a peremptory order to shut himself up in his 
room, with the view of excluding any air, and to abstain 
from the slightest exertion, whether bodily or mental; but, 
instead of following the direction, he walked out, and, what 
is worse, sat up the whole night to indite some doggerel 
songs, which he dignified by the name of “‘poem’”’. In the 
morning the physician called to see the effect of the medicine. 
To his great astonishment, he was told that it had had none 
at all. While perplexed, in thinking what could have been 
the cause, the sick man unfolded a scroll, and submitted 
his nocturnal cogitations to the judgment of his learned 
visitor. The problem wassolved. The physic administered 
could not have operated, because the necessary rest was 
not taken. Vexed at this, and annoyed perhaps at listening 
to senseless verses, our poet poured the whole vial of his 
biting sarcasm on the head of the luckless rhymer. The 
latter, confused and burning with rage, had assumed 
a threatening attitude. Immanuel, fearing a rupture, 
left quickly, and, meeting the prince, related, amid fits 
of laughter, all that had occurred. The patron relished it 
exceedingly, and said that the rich fun was spoiled some- 
what by the reflection that his protege had lost his fee, 
besides having incurred the expense of the drugs he had 
compounded for the medicine. But Immanuel remarked 
that he would send in a bill; and, if payment was refused, 
he had determined to expose the scribbler in a fashion he 
would little like. The bill was presented, but no fee came. 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 33 


The prolific writer then cut the delinquent to the quick 
with his trenchant wit. Dishonesty and presumption were 
made to take a personal form, and to cling as inseparable 
companions to Joseph the stingy poetaster. 


The prince smiled with complacency at such ver- 
satility of genius, and Immanuel related how much he 
owed to it in his youth, when, by his quick intellect, he won 
the fairest among the maidens of his people, for she repaid 
with glowing affection the readiness with which he had 
solved a proposed riddle. “But,” jestingly interposed the 
prince, “‘since you became old and rheumatic, the flashes 
of your intellect are not quite so bright.”’ ‘‘Aye; they are 
as vivid now as when my body was in its prime,’’ rejoined the 
poet. ‘“‘These weary feet will not carry me the distance I 
was wont to run, but this mind reaches the point it ever 
attained, and it is not fatigued. The tenth part of my effu- 
sions has yet been scarcely read. Let me rehearse a compo- 
sition I indited in Ancona, just at the time I was unable 
to rise from my bed.’’ Here follow some lines descriptive 
of irksome hours spent while stretched upon a sick couch, 
and others in which the attending physicians are lashed 
without mercy for their quackery. 


The perusal of these leads him to speak of a certain Kal- 
onimos*—a high officer at the court of King Robert—who 
united in himself the adroitness of a diplomatist, the acumen 
of a philosopher, the erudition of a sage, and the brilliancy 
of a poet. Immanuel extols his excellencies in rhythmical 
prose and in verse; and, directing a letter to a R. Samuel, 
who lamented the long absence of Kalonimos from his 
native city, our author grows boundlessly enthusiastic on 


* Kalonymos ben Kalonymos, a Provencal scholar, was born at 
Arles in 1286. His most notable work is the ‘‘Eben Bohan”, an ethical 
treatise completed in 1323, probably while he was visiting Rome. This 
work deals with moral conduct and is at the same time a satire on men 
andconditionsoftheauthor’stime. Another treatise ‘‘ Maseket Purim”’ 
is a parody after the Rabbinic style and diction, mercilessly criticising 
many of his contemporaries (Vogelstein und Rieger, Il. c., 442-444; 
Gudemann, I. c. 122-125). [G] 


34 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


the rare qualities which adorned that coreligionist. In 
elegance of style, not dissimilar from that of his contempor- 
ary, the famous Penini (Bedrasi—called also Badrashi)* in 
the “Behinhoth Olam,” (a philosopho-theological essay), 
he depicts the benefits flowing from the residence of so 
illustrious an Israelite in Rome, the public duties which 
detain him there, and his avowed wish to return home—an 
event to which he himself looked forward with delight, but 
the Jews on the Tiber with exceeding regret. 

If the pen, which the genius of Hebrew poetry wielded, 
had traced only the twenty-fourth canto of this unique 
volume, we might incase it in a golden casket, that all 
lovers of literature might see and admire it. Free from any 
metrical composition, that canto of rhythmical prose is 
eloquence pouring forth her rarest treasures, and laying 
them at the shrine of friendship, religion, and patriotism. 
A parent that, like the bereaved Zedekiah, whom Immanuel 
addressed, reads it on the day of affliction, will raise his 
tearful eyes upward, and bless Him “that woundeth and 
bindeth up.”’ For each line proffers for acceptance a cup 
of consolation. And how tender and persuasive at once 
the counsel which reunited two hearts, sundered while 
the sound of nuptial gratulations still re-echoed. How gra- 
phic the description of a journey across the Apennines, to 
visit the two lovely beings whom nature had intended to be 
inseparably joined; of the disappointment at having sought 
and not met them, of the keen sorrow at the tidings of the 
decease of her in whom beauty and virtue contended for 
supremacy! Delightful it is to see one who had often exer- 
cised the marvelous powers of his imagination, to disparage 
woman’s character, weave a garland and place it on the 
tomb now of an exemplary mother; anon, ofa chaste 
maiden in Israel. We forgive and almost forget the flip- 
pancy at times observed in Immanuel’s writings, when we 


x Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi was born at Beziers about 1270 
and died about 1340. He was the author of a number of poems and also 
philosophical treatises. The appellation ‘‘Penini’’ he assumed in his 
poems (Jew. Ency. II, 625). [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME eh) 


notice his anxiety to act as a peace-maker. The letter 
sent from Ancona to Rome, to dissuade the congregation 
of that city from carrying out an objectionable resolution, 
proves him a disciple of Aaron. A slight defect in it is the 
evident desire to evince, by prolixity, great erudition in 
Talmudical literature; but it may be overlooked, considering 
that, very possibly, the communication prevented a 
national evil. For, had Rome insisted upon compelling 
our brethren who had emigrated elsewhere, indiscriminately 
to pay towards the support of its community, some might 
have become estranged from the Jewish fold. 

The twenty-fifth canto represents a scene so ludicrous 
that it would force a laugh from grim Diogenes. Purim 
has again paid its friends the annual visit. A jolly company 
who have made the most of the festivity, are assembled. 
“Confusion worse confounded” reigns supreme. We al- 
most hear the din of drunken songs, the jingling of the tam- 
bourine, the jumping, and thumping, and romping, mingled 
with the antics of clowns, and the jokes of the would-be 
improvisatore. Immanuel, full of piquant railleries, draws 
around him eager listeners, and to some, whose senses Bacch- 
us had not yet stolen away, he relates the history of a sy- 
barite whom he had known in former years. The expres- 
sions are loose, the similes drawn from the spring of foulness, 
and yet so much spirit and fire run through that narrative, 
that the reader’s mind is drawn irresistibly along after that 
which his sober judgment condemns. A redeeming feature 
will be discovered in the closing stanzas of the metrical poem. 
Contrasting intemperance with moderation, he sees the 
virtue of sobriety taught by the Divinity in the water 
course of rivers and of lakes; but, as if suddenly recalling 
his last goodly thought, he entertains his audience with 
“the story of eighty elders.’”’ He professes to have it from 
tradition, and gives out as a fact that, in the city of Heshbon 
on the eastern side of the Jordan, a resort for the learned had 
been established, and there, on the occasion of the festival 
of Simhat Torah (Rejoicing of the Law), eighty scholars 
resolved to extol the juice of the grapes in the presence of 


36 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


their chief, the President of the College. Here the sparks 
of wit fly in all directions—now vividly bright, anon tar- 
nished with wreaths of smoke. The Biblical sentences are 
made beautifully to chime in with the ideas held out, but 
not infrequently they receive a perverted application, which 
illustrates wantonness. 

He who begins a perusal of the twenty-sixth canto 
may be apt to stop short, and resolve to proceed no further. 
If he does so he will be the loser; for, what opens in a style 
seemingly frivolous, continues and ends with a dignity of 
diction and a sublimity of sentiment rarely excelled. The 
prince and the poet sauntering along meet several women, 
whose cheeks are furrowed with the wrinkles of old age, 
and whose unostentatious garments denote a total re- 
linquishing of the world of fashion. They are recognized 
as former beauties, for whom chivalry would have broken 
many a lance. The salutations exchanged are neither warm 
nor cordial, for the unwelcome incident becomes the mirror 
reflecting likewise the gradual decay of the rich Maecenas 
and his gifted Virgil. At this, Immanuel pours forth 
laments, which re-echo in the hearts of his patron, and both 
agree that the painful alteration witnessed that day on 
countenances once so blooming and so fair, should teach 
all to make ready for a voyage “‘to the undiscovered country 
from whose bourne no traveler returns.’’ ‘‘But’’, observed 
the poet, ‘“‘a silent walk through the valley of dead bones, 
amid that vast charnel house, where the envied possessor 
of millions lies together with the pitied indigent, where 
youth and talents, senility and wisdom, carelessness and 
clumsiness, are hidden in the dust; in that final dwelling- 
place, we shall hear and see that ‘life’s but a span’.”’ 

The prince is seized with a tremor, and, as he listens to 
the thrilling description of bride and groom entering the 
chamber of death: of children, the hope of their parents; of 
wives, the sole joy of their husbands; of rulers, the sustaining 
power of countries, descending early into the grave, he 
vows to cast off human pride as pollution, and asks his 
companion, whether the possibility of being soon compelled 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 37 


to bid the dear ones on earth a last farewell has often 
intruded upon his thoughts. The answer brings an assurance 
that all occurrences, all surroundings, the very night which 
succeeds the day, the very bed on which he stretches his 
weary limbs, call aloud: ‘‘Men remember! Ye are mortals! 

“But has the bent of your mind been always as at the 
present moment? I am candid enough to confess that the 
feelings I now experience are unusual with me,” remarked 
the prince. 

Immanuel said: ‘“‘Nay, kindest of friends! I, too, 
dreamt that my abode here below was built upon a rock. 
I, too, believed that the angry billows of time would never 
reach it; that my stay was eternal; and, wondering at my 
folly, wrote a song, which I will presently rehearse.’’ 

The prince is softened into extreme humility, and 
prays that, since he cannot summon sufficient courage to 
go and receive instruction from those who rest within their 
sepulchres, he may obtain it from his fond associate, in 
the form of an invocation to the God of all flesh. This 
soul-stirring orison would grace the Jewish ritual. Highly 
calculated to arouse sentiments of repentance and contrition, 
it might rank, respecting its expression and character, with 
that, variously attributed to Hai Gaon and Saadia Gaon, 
which is introductory to the evening service for the Day 
of Atonement, 2) *npwn x 7. A repetition puts 
the prince into such a frame of mind, that he requests 
to be led to a cemetery, where he may learn to prepare 
for quitting the world and its vanities. The poet replies, 
that he will not press the suggestion made before, if his 
patron will only follow him to an inner chamber of his own 
dwelling; for there will he find skeletons and skulls—a 
standing menace to the wicked, a warning to the reckless. 
Especially will he be taught by a dead man, who will hand 
him an open letter, having the power to destroy the passions 
and to quicken virtue. 

The prince looks incredulous. He will not believe that 
Immanuel has surrounded himself with such somber objects. 
‘“‘Surely you are jesting,” he exclaimed, “else I would ere 


38 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 
this have heard the contents of that wondrous letter.’’ 
“You shall hear it when delivered by the right messenger.’’ 

Immanuel’s house is reached. Against the walls of a 
hidden chamber pithy lessons on mortality are engraven. 
The eyes of the beholder follow them intently. Of a sudden 
a noise resounds, as of a body dropping powerless on the 
floor. The prince has swooned away with dread. He saw 
the figure of a deceased being, on whose flesh vermin fed, and 
between whose emaciated fingers a paper was tightly held. 
The poet draws a curtain over that terrifying spectacle, and 
carries to another room the affrighted visitor. No sooner 
has the latter revived than he flees apace, as if haunted by 
a spectre. The poet goes in search of him, and reassures his 
spirits. When the excited feelings have subsided, he recites 
the contents of the open letter. The dead, addressing the 
living, cries forth: 

“Oh! thou that sleepest on the softest bed, 

Look! e’en with thy flesh will these worms be fed, etc.”’ 

The whole composition is admirable; and, notwith- 
standing its being metrical—a style wherein Immanuel 
did not particularly excel—it flows smoothly and with thrill- 
ing harmony. The prince readily forgives the event, which 
has terrified his senses, and the two friends separate with 
tokens of mutual esteem. 

The twenty-seventh canto purports to be an incident 
that happened in Vienna. The prince and the poet took a 
walk around the city, and lighted on a group of Israelites, 
who whiled away their time, during a holiday, in discussing 
subjects on history, on travels, on politics, but all without 
system, and in a manner that a passer-by might construe 
to be a quarrel rather than a diversion. The two Italian 
strangers accosting their German coreligionists, said :— 
“Brethren! this is not a becoming celebration of our sacred 
festival. Let us devote it to a calm and intelligent discus- 
sion of some topic which will exalt the mind.” Perfect 
silence attended this address, and the poet and his patron 
launched into an exceedingly long dialogue about the natural 
functions, influence, and every conceivable and inconceivable 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 39 


capacity of the then known seven planets, and of the twelve 
signs of the Zodiac, supposed to have an almost absolute 
power over the affairs of mankind. Such a display of recon- 
dite knowledge strikes the hearers with amazement. It fills 
them with reverence for its possessors; and, as these retire, 
some twenty persons call at the hotel, where they had taken 
rooms, to own their admiration, and at the same time to 
enquire whether they were as familiar with poetry as 
they have shown themselves to be with science. Immanuel 
immediately replies in the affirmative, and each tries 
his skill in various ways: some by frivolous narratives, 
others by ethical and metaphysical questions, to all of 
which he gives in rhymea fitting and satisfactory application. 

The twenty-eighth and last canto pictures a subject 
as novel in Hebrew literature as it is startling. ‘‘La Divina 
Commedia”’ had just issued from the plastic mind of 
Dante. Its influence on the fervid imagination of our Im- 
manuel was magical. The friendly intercourse said to have 
existed between the father of Italian poesy and the greatest 
of Jewish satirists,, may have lent wings for a lofty flight. 
It has even been suggested that the death of Alighieri gave 
origin to this weird composition, and that the immortal 
Tuscan figures conspicuously in it under a fictitious name. 
Be that as it may, all will recognize therein an idea drawn 
from a spring which does not flow in Israel’s domains. We 
are asked to accompany the writer through infernal regions, 
and thence travel onward to the place reserved for him in 
the abode of blissfulness. He does not tell us the name of 
the illustrious personage whose decease filled his heart with 
dismay, recalled the follies of youth, and showed the yawn- 
ing grave ready to fasten him in its cold embrace. But 
suddenly an apparition rises. The spirit of Daniel has been 
evoked by the poet’s genius. 

Like Virgil to Dante, so does “the man greatly beloved”’ 
become the celestial escort, leading his cherished disciple, 


« There has been a great deal of discussion among Jewish writers 
regarding the relation between Immanuel and Dante; see Gudemann, 
Wenrp..1144.. -[G] 


40 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


unscathed, amidst burning sulphur and rolling glaciers. 
The description is thrilling. Not to use old mythological 
Charon, ferrying the souls over the Acheron, fancy raises 
a rickety bridge, at the extreme end of which a small gate 
is guarded by a flaming sword whirled in an invisible hand. 
Men and women, loaded with sin, are forced through 
that gate to be precipitated into depths of liquid fire. 
The poet and his guide stand still, mournfully gazing, 
while myriads, like swelling billows fast chasing one an- 
other, roll down, and voices cry, ‘‘Woe unto us, all 
hopes are left behind.’”’ To this lament angels of an 
avenging Deity reply, ‘‘ Ye godless beings, who disobeyed the 
Sovereign Maker, and harmed His guileless creatures; go 
reap the fruits of the evil deeds which you planted. This is 
the way that leads to sure perdition; pass on, and utter not 
a sound.” Terror-stricken, the poet asks why a fate so 
dire befell that multitude. And Daniel said, ‘‘They are 
the faithless, who denied the power of the Supreme, and 
cleaved to falsehood and to vanities. Let us step down- 
ward, and thou wilt learn how depravity, in a transitory 
life, is requited in an existence which has no end.’’ The 
gate flings back upon its hinges, and they descend. Gloom, 
appalling and threatning, environs them. Asa flash of light- 
ning darting through the sky on a stormy night, intensifies 
the darkness, so do the bursting flames of an unquenchable 
fire add horror to the horrid spot. But the Roman Jew, 
who chose Dante for his prototype, has exhibited less dis- 
crimination than the Florentine Christian in the fanciful 
catalogue of ancient dead burning in the first circle of the 
labyrinthian Tartarus. He heaps there together the mur- 
derous Queen Athaliah, and Nabal, the churlish Carmelite; 
Peninah, who vexed the pious Hannah, and Jeroboam, the 
arch-rebel that lured Israel into idolatry; Hippocrates, be- 
cause he hid away his written lessons on hygiene, and Aris- 
totle because he had believed in the eternity of matter; and 
scores of other beings whose errors or misdeeds vary in- 
finitely in character and grade. 

The second circle, where women, unfaithful to the 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 41 


nuptial vow, are lifted up by a whirlwind, and cast into a 
boiling cauldron of melted copper, lead, and iron; and the 
third, where gamblers writhe in a cave inhabited by lions, 
vipers, and a host of scorpions, are depicted with terri- 
fying vividness. 

But the description of the fourth circle has scarcely its 
equal in Dante. It presents to view the torments in 
hell of a man who had garnered riches solely to gratify 
ambition. And now he is made to see a rival—the hus- 
band of his fair widow,—luxuriate in boundless wealth, 
emblazon with a supplanting name the portals of the 
palatial mansion he had built, cull the choicest fruits in 
the gardens he had planted, and cause the woman, to whom 
he had bequeathed a princely estate, to forget the love of her 
first espousals. The misery he suffers at that sight, and 
his expressions of remorse for having purchased by insatia- 
able ambition naught but burning fagots, while he could 
have won heavenly delights by kindliness and charity, 
harrow the soul. In the fifth circle, heaven-gifted creat- 
ures who had learned wisdom, but spurned it to run 
headlong after human follies, grope in a darkness without 
dawn. The sixth brings the poet face to face with an aged 
man of venerable aspect. A crown of thorns encircles his 
wrinkled brow. Compelled at one time to mount a steep 
ascent, he is again hurled down. Now is he thrown 
into a blazing pile, anon, he is dragged out to be bitten 
by vipers. Agonizing at every pore, his ears tingle with 
the piercing sound of voices crying, “Thou who didst 
plunge into the mire of iniquity, wash off the filth in oceans 
of roaring fire.” But though there follows an elaborate 
delineation of the atrocious acts which that man committed, 
the name he bore remains concealed. Were it not for the 
excessive turpitude attributed to the unknown sufferer, one 
might suppose that Elisha ben Abuya, or Aher, the apostate 
teacher of Rabbi Meir, is intended, but to compare the 
Grecianized sage to King Antiochus or to Manasseh would 
be, even for Immanuel, apt to deal in hyperboles, a charge 
entirely too sweeping. 


42 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


But who are those two beings entangled in the in- 
extricable meshes which their backslidings have woven? 
The seventh circle holds them in a vise fast together. 
They dare not move lest their limbs be broken. Two grasp- 
ing misers, twin in birth and twin in avarice, are thus knit 
in one bond. They had kept their hands so closely tight 
that the smallest coin could not possibly slip through. Im- 
manuel’s portrait is quaint but remarkably graphic. We 
gaze upon it, and find mirrored in each lineament the mean 
wight who loves but self, and lives for self. 


The situation in hell of the undutiful child, who struck 
his father, and reviled her who gave him nurture, our poet’s 
genius has aptly portrayed. In the eighth circle he 
stands, without the tongue he has ill-used, and the right hand 
whose power he has abused. Hollow is his moaning, when 
tossed up as a ball from a well of gall to a dreaded gallows. 
The ninth circle teems with creatures hanging by their 
tongues, and thrust at with barbed arrows. Hypocrites 
have they been under the garb of saints. They sought the 
highest place in the synagogue, and screeched the loudest. 
Solely to be seen and heard was their aim, for the wish of 
pouring out their hearts to the ever-present God never 
blended with their thoughts. 


Terrible is the punishment of thieves and of those who 
have habitually lied. Suspended by the branches of huge 
trees they dangle over the tenth circle with their thumbs 
and their large toes cut off. Rapacious birds feed on their 
flesh, vultures pluck out their envious eyes. 

On reaching the eleventh circle, feelings of anguish over- 
whelm the poet. Fain would he have averted his eyes 
from the scene presented. Human bodies stretched on a 
brick-kiln, and flayed with iron combs, receive a punishment 
decreed against suicide. They who imagined to escape 
earthly trials by cutting the thread of their existence, 
endure tortures too terrific to relate. 

Unhappy Hiel!* The doom foretold by Joshua to the 


« II Kings xvi.34; comp. Joshua vi.26. [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 43 


man who should rebuild Jericho, had crushed his house- 
hold. Wilful disobedience was paid for by the untimely 
decease of all his offspring; but the pangs he must have 
borne on earth did not appear enough atonement to him who 
journeyed on the wings of fancy through infernal regions. 
Immanuel meets the bereaved father in the lowest pit, 
his putrid wounds licked by poisonous reptiles, and torn 
afresh by serpents. But the antipathy which supplied 
high colors to draw a hideous picture of the wretched 
Bethelite, continued unrelaxed in depicting the shocking 
plight of about one hundred and five men, denizens of 
the twelfth circle of Hades. They had been deemed pious, 
benevolent, and zealous; but, in their discharge of the office 
of congregational wardens, they had wofully fallen short 
of their duties. They had appointed as Readers at the 
sacred desk disreputable and incompetent individuals; and, 
in a burst of indignation, Immanuel exclaims: ‘‘How can 
he be chosen to direct prayers above for all his people, whose 
mind is chained here below? How dare he stand to rep- 
resent the children of the faithful patriarchs before the King 
of kings, who would not be entrusted with a mission to a 
petty lord?”’...But darkness impenetrable and bewildering 
has compassed the poet and his guide. “This is what 
erudite scholars are condemned to, who would not dispense 
light to dissipate the clouds of ignorance; individuals who 
studied only to be petted and feted because of their 
great learning.”” So spoke Daniel while crossing the 
thirteenth circle. ‘‘But why are these trodden upon by 
the hoofs of fiery horses?”’ inquired theaffrighted traveller, 
on being lowered to the next circle. ‘‘ Because their licentious 
cravings, like that of untamable steeds, knew no bound.” 
The fifteenth circle rang with the clanking of chains, 
as of a thousand anvils struck. Men in fetters are attacked 
by bears. The breath of the*cruel beasts smothers, their 
fangs lacerate the flesh. ‘‘Has the God of truth perverted 
judgment? Were these not the illustrious among the most 
distinguished for ardent devotion?” And the spiritual es- 
cort answered :—“‘ Yes; so they seemed to carnal eyes; for, 


44 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


in public, they bowed the head as a bulrush, bent the knee, 
and struck the breast, but their lips ever in motion when 
others looked, never opened for a prayer when none but the 
omnipresent God could hear.”’ 

Deeper is the descent to the sixteenth circle, where 
deceivers of mankind, conjurers, necromancers, and _ for- 
tune-tellers are stung by wasps, and pierced by swords. 
Deeper still where, in the seventeenth, they expiate their 
sin, who, under trials, denied Providence, and breathed 
curses, in lieu of blessing the Hand which smites to correct. 
Observing many lower yet in the eighteenth circle, Im- 
manuel is struck with amazement. All had regarded those 
creatures as innocence personified. And so they were, because 
opportunities to do wrong had been withheld from them; 
but could they, unobserved, have indulged in evil, they 
would have equalled the most obdurate. Close to them, 
rueful figures flit along, pursued by streams of fire. They 
had died as martyrs, but when the fatal blow was about 
to sever the mortal from the immortal, they deprecated their 
unyielding faith, and wished they had led a life of heed- 
lessness and impiety. 

The nineteenth circle makes sport of a wretch that 
lies in woe. Crushed by an avalanche he is resuscitated to 
be thrown among live coals. He had robbed a neighbor of 
his wife’s affection, demoralized his children, and opened, by 
his pernicious example, a flood-gate of vice and of crime. 
Near the adulterer stood a man whose bones protruded, all 
cankered and corroded. He had plunged a murderous 
blade into the breast of a creature made in the Divine image, 
sent him unprepared before the high tribunal, prevented 
him from gathering a provision of good deeds, and driven 
his offspring—left forlorn and derelict—to the path of 
ignorance and shame. 

The twentieth circle is attained. Oh, doleful Muse! 
Thy bard lies whelmed in a sea of horrors. Shrieks and 
wails, the storm of hailstones and the raging fire, the whirling 
of the trenchant sword, and the roaring of the fiercest 
beasts, have deadened his surpassing genius. But...it 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 45 


revives. It soars high again. ‘‘Sainted guide, who hast 
led my steps uninjured mid Tartarean vaults, tell thou me 
what crimes have brought yonder host to sufferings so 
direful. Tell thou me quickly who they were, for I 
cannot longer contemplate a spectacle at which my blood 
congeals. I promise to relate the woful story, and snatch 
away the living from the path which ends in this terrific 
deep.” Daniel said: ‘Hear clearly and transcribe with 
fidelity.’”” We shall spare the reader—who doubtless is 
stained with none of the sins which Immanuel’s imaginary 
escort points out—the fatigue of a description of atheism, 
infidelity, perjury, blasphemy, an ill-will occasioning misery 
and distress, crimes which are instanced as having blackened 
ineffaceably the soul. We shall rather pass on to the delinea- 
tion of the feelings of our poet, while he attentively listens 
to the speaker. His face bedewed with streaming tears, 
he bitterly curses the hour in which he first was ushered into 
this nether world. ‘‘Wherefore so much dejection?”  in- 
quired Daniel. ‘‘Why, in viewing the work of retributive 
justice, art thou so filled with dismay?”’ “‘Alas! O man 
greatly beloved!’’ rejoins the poet. ‘‘I bethink myself 
of faults I have committed; for the pure soul, given me in 
mercy, has been pitilessly steeped in pollution. I, even I, 
have dragged it through defilement, instead of raising it up 
high where holiness exhales its sweet odor. Will I not also 
be imprisoned in this valley of innumerable sorrows?’’ To 
which the ethereal escort replies: ‘‘Let thy agitated 
breast be calmed. None is sinless, and thou hast offended 
God by many rash and thoughtless deeds, but thou didst 
redeem thy character by unequalled industry in the field 
of learning. Fear not; he that has added sweetness to 
the bitter cup of everlasting woes; he that has refreshed his 
neighbor’s mind with lessons of divine truths, shall not 
wither in a shadowy labyrinth.” 

What follows, repeats that to which the writer of this 
sketch has had occasion so often to take exception, namely, 
a high-wrought self-praise, for the possession of natural 
talents, for goodness of heart, for a disposition to bear 


46 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


trials without murmur, and for an erudition and a depth of 
research which had discovered the only veritable meaning of 
Scriptural ‘passages. This fulsome laudation, put into the 
mouth of Daniel, concludes with a prediction that, on wend- 
ing his steps under the lead of his master, towards the abode 
of beatitude, Immanuel would be greeted by the authors of 
the various portions of the Bible as the faultless interpreter 
of their thoughts: ‘‘Come then and receive the honor which 
is thy due;” and our poet answers: “Gentle spirit, draw me 
out of this spectral land, which has harrowed every fibre 
of my being.”” ‘‘Lay hold of my garment,’ quoth the 
other; “look not back, but upward, and move rapidly 


” 


on.’”’ So went they together. 


A ladder was set upon the earth, but the top thereof 
reached unto the heavens. ‘The man greatly beloved”’ 
and his disciple mount step by step. The higher the ascent, 
the more glorious is the scene which breaks upon their 
vision. A sun brighter sevenfold than the luminary made 
“to rule the day” lightens the serenest sky. A gentle 
zephyr diffuses the fragrance of wonderful plants. ‘As 
through a crystal case the figured hours are seen,” so are 
the joyous thoughts that roll within the mind of each 
dweller of Elysium glowingly transparent. At intervals 
they burst forth in hallelujahs, till the Empyrean rings with 
a seraphic choral. Immanuel recognizes among the blessed 
ones, Biblical and Talmudical characters. He beholds 
his favorite Charizi in spiritual communion with the soul 
of Hebrew poetry—Judah Halevi. His mother, Giusta, 
delights in Eden with his mother-in-law, Brunetta. His 
early teacher, Benjamin, and his contemporary, Rabbi 
Buzeccho,' jointly contemplate the essence of the Deity. 
But here and there in that beatified assemblage, he sees 
many clothed in majesty, yet unknown to fame in the 
domains of Israel. ‘‘Master, who are they of so imposing 


* Menahen Bozecchi, probably an uncle of Benjamin, mentioned 
by him in his commentary to Isaiah xxxiii. [G] 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 47 


an appearance, whose names and deeds have never reached 
my ears?”” And Daniel answers: ‘‘These were not born in 
the true faith, but they sought with their intellect to dis- 
cover the First Cause, and honored it under various 
appellations, still learning their duty from the knowledge 
attained, and following right as far as understood.”’ 

Springing from height to height, vacant thrones of 
sapphire, whose foot-stools shone like polished amber, 
are seen prepared for distinguished comers. Our poet 
desires to sit upon the most conspicuous, but he is informed 
that it was reserved for Leon Romano. 

Graceful is this tribute of respect to superior genius 
and to moral excellencies. Immanuel never proved him- 
self so noble-minded as when he placed Leon Romano, the 
elegant writer and generous benefactor of his race, foremost 
among the greatest. Equally admirable and touching is 
his acknowledgment of the learning and virtue of his brother 
(called also Danielt) for whom he bespeaks a lofty place 
in the realm of the saints. He deems that a just reward 
for the lessons received at his hands, both in sacred lore and 
in right conduct. The mellifluous words and exalted 
style which have preserved the memory of those two worthy 
sons of Israel in this unique book, cover up many a blemish 
with which a careless hand has stained it. 

But now the traveller observes and stands aghast. He 
descries human beings shunned on earth for their great 
wickedness, rejoicing in the association of the upright and 
godly. ‘“‘Far be injustice from the universal Lord,” ex- 
claims the wise escort. ‘‘Sufferings, excruciating and pro- 
jonged, endured, without a murmur, as an atonement for 
repeated sins; feelings of profound shame and of intense 
contrition, silent confessions and heartfelt entreaties, gained 
for these the felicities of paradise.” 


t This Daniel was not a brother of Immanuel but probably a friend 
and a benefactor. Some seek to identify him with Dante (Geiger) 
but this supposition is not generally accepted. It is more likely that 
Daniel was the name of his benefactor (See Gudemann, I. c., p: 114 and 
note VII; Vogelstein und Rieger, I. c., 423, 438). [G] 


48 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Can sorrow dwell where eternal joy wields the sceptre? 
Can man bide in heaven and still suffer the torments of hell? 
Immanuel answers these queries in the affirmative, by the 
following paradoxical description. Sackcloth and ashes 
covered the body of a noted sage; bent was the head, the 
lips inaudibly spoke the words of lamentation; but he has 
descried the poet. The streaming eyes cease to weep. 
““Welcome’”’ is the friendly greeting. The twain had known 
each other long. Immanuel’s acquaintance had been dis- 
tinguished on earth for talents and for the liberal distribu- 
tion of his wealth, but a fit of uncontrolled ambition had 
led him to exchange the sweets of home, the admiration of 
scholars, and the pleasures of congenial associations for 
the promise of a fabulous fortune in foreign climes. He 
traveled far, and embarked in commercial speculations, 
which proved disastrous. Impoverished and broken in 
spirit, he pined away, and found a grave in the land of 
the stranger, bequeathing to his wife and children naught 
but misery and its melancholy sequel—death. One of his 
sons survived the catastrophe, and for him the man mourn- 
fully prayed, and humbled himself before the throne of 
grace. The poet opens a fountain of delight, where only 
tears had gushed forth. He tells the sage that his 
living child had been successful, had acquired proficiency 
in the Law, and won repute for his name; and that he himself 
would extol his merits, and strive to make him famous ..At this 
the afflicted father is suddenly transformed into a triumph- 
ant saint clothed in light, and crowned with glory. Join- 
ing the blissful throng, he cries aloud till the empyrean 
echoes forth the sound: ‘‘Immanuel hath come!”’ David 
then steps forward, accompanied by Asaph and Jeduthun. 
Melodious chords are struck on harp and lyre. The sons 
of Korah blow their silver trumpets, while the anointed 
of the Lord folds the poet in his arms. At his bidding all 
the expositors of the book of Psalms convene, and together 
proclaim Immanuel the prince of commentators. Ezekiel 
hears the acclamation, and makes the shouting swell higher, 
when he declares that none had understood his delineation 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 49 


of the chariot, with its multifarious figures and wheels, so 
well as he who now stood alive in their midst. His words 
have scarce been uttered, when Jeremiah, with Elijah on the 
right, and Elisha on the left, approaches, and pays homage 
to the prolific writer who had penetrated the meaning of his 
inspired effusions. 

Isaiah also gives a solemn assurance that the portals 
of Elysium are open to admit him who had best known how 
to gather honey from the flowers of the prophet’s planting. 
But it is now Solomon’s turn to speak. He has brought in 
his train the Minor Prophets, and he draws from them the 
confession that none has rivalled Immanuel in unfolding 
the proper sense of the Scriptural text. The poet is carried 
forthwith to the presence of the greatest Seer. A dazzling 
light encompasses the brow of Amram’s son, but Moses 
veils his countenance, and communes with the visitor. He 
predicts that because the Roman scholar had so lucidly 
axplained the text of the Pentateuch and of the Book of Job, 
he would hereafter become beatified. Solomon chimes in, 
bestowing surpassing encomiums on the interpreter of 
Ecclesiastes and Canticles. 

Finally, a stately figure appears, followed by eleven 
beings of majestic aspect. Joseph and the heads of Israel’s 
tribes have come. All stand aside to let the teacher of 
forgiveness draw nigh. He bends the knee before the man 
who had ascended the summit of Sinai, and the Arch-pro- 
phet salutes the savior of his age with accents at once tender 
and sublime. Joseph recognizes the poet, and exclaims: 
“In him I acknowledge the Hebrew who has represented 
me with fidelity, and without flattery.’’ He adds that the 
fame of Immanuel has reached the utmost bounds of the 
region of bliss, and that because of his fervid imagination, 
his choice diction, and the rich tropes and similes he fittingly 
employed, his name has already been immortalized in the 
world of spirits, as it is in the republic of letters. 

With steps made lighter by so joyous an announce- 
ment, the poet moves on until his vision rests upon ten 
golden canopies. Curtains of purple hue, bespangled with 


50 » ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


jewels, at whose brilliance a meridian sun would pale, 
hang down upon the sides. ‘‘Sainted friend, who hast 
led me forth mid paths untrodden by the living, say now, 
who stands beneath those splendid arches?” And Daniel 
answers: ‘“‘The ten martyrs of our holy faith.’’....‘Oh! 
let me become beatified by their gaze.’”’....‘ Nay; they 
have just departed hence. The righteous scion of Levi— 
Samuel our judge—and Judah the Prince of our traditions, 
have joined them also, under the guide of Michael, the arch- 
angel. They together lie prostrate before the King of kings, 
imploring grace and pardon for the remnant of the capti- 
vity, that the distressed may receive enlargement, and the 
Divine presence be restored to Zion. But follow me, and I 
will show thee five canopies spread out for five of thy com- 
panions, who are still numbered among the inhabitants of 


the terrestial globe.”’. .. .“‘ Wilt thou name the happy beings 
for whom that glory is reserved?’’....‘‘ Attend and fasten 
my words upon thy memory.”’....Here the reader’s mind 


is feasted with a glowing portrait of human virtue, which 
distinguished five of Immanuel’s contemporaries. 

In the first, who lived at Perugia, the most shining 
qualities were unswerving adherence to truth, deep humility, 
a peace loving disposition, and charity, which covered all 
under the broad folds of its mantle. The second had sig- 
nalized himself by zeal for the promotion of the welfare of 
his people, and by a generosity which invited to a hospitable 
board the stranger and the needy, and sweetened the repast 
with gracious manners. The third had by his influence 
averted a political storm, threatening to burst upon the 
head of the Jewish community in Italy, had risked his life 
to pacify inveterate foes, and had obtained for his brethren 
the boon of safety. The fourth had stood by Immanuel in 
time of sad reverses, had evinced his attachment by as- 
suming the transcription of many of the prolific author’s 
writings, and had proved equally liberal to others with his 
means and with his knowledge. The fifth with whose name 
the reader might have specially desired to become acquainted 
is described in impassioned language as a poet, renowned 


IMMANUEL OF ROME 51 


for his effusions both in Hebrew and Italian, as a gallant 
soldier, as a diplomatist, as a keen reasoner in defending 
persecuted Israel, and as the favorite of potentates. 

Doubtless, these five notables were, in the thirteenth 
century, subjects of praise among their fellow-believers, 
and needed not explicit mention, but to their successors a 
record of their names would have been welcome. Our 
author denies us also that gratification, when in a burst of 
religious enthusiasm he delineates the character of two 
celebrities in Orvieto, who deserved well of all the disciples 
of Moses and the Rabbis. For endless had been their 
benefactions, and universal the lustre they had reflected on 
the dispersed of Judah. But to Immanuel the memory 
of their deeds was the kindling of genius. Towering high 
it beheld Eternity come forth to crown Piety; seraphs and 
cherubs do reverence to virtue-——‘“‘Happy mortal, thou 
hast surveyed the past, and scanned the future! To thee 
was Hell disclosed, and Paradise unfolded, that thou might- 
est learn and teach. Trace the lesson on adamant, that 
time may not erase it. Rehearse it within the hearing of 
the living, until it be their ruling thought. And I that 
love thee well, will uphold thy hand and sustain thy speech 
with orisons to the Sovereign Creator.... Thy sins 
have been forgiven....Thine end will be serene. Thou 
wilt close thine eyes on earth, to reopen them in regions 
where light is never dimmed.” 

Daniel has given his last utterance. Fain would the 
poet have kept fast upon the garment of the man of God, 
but a whirlwind arises. The ethereal escort vanishes, and 
he who travelled on the wings of fancy lands on the shores 
of reality. 


IV. ELIAS DEL MEDIGO 


In the last quarter of the fifteenth century,’ the 
subject of this sketch taught theology and philosophy in 
Padua. A spirit of liberality, which Catholic Italy has not 
always manifested, raised the Jewish savant, when yet in 
his youth, to the chair of professor at a public academy. 
There he, doubtless, won golden opinions, for the most 
renowned of Italian scholars, who travelled in quest of 
still greater knowledge, became his pupil. ‘‘The marvel of 
learning and genius,” as Pico della Mirandola was called 
by his contemporaries, sat at the feet of Elias Del Medigo, 
at the Padua academy. 

The distinguishing characteristics of the professor, the 
keenness of intellect and depth of thought he evinced, ren- 
dered him a centre of attraction to all lovers of letters. 
This circumstance, bringing the young Paduan in close 
contact with a vast number of non-Israelites, may perhaps 
have given rise to a suspicion that his interest in philosophy 
exceeded his interest in religion. At all events, we find him 
involved in lengthy and warm disputes with a very eminent 
Rabbi of his time, Judah Mintz.? Whether the contro- 
versy had reference to ritual questions, cannot now be 
ascertained, but it is evident that, notwithstanding the 


* Delmedigo was born in Candia in 1460 and died there in 1497. 
He was appointed to the Professorship at Padua, when he was only 
twenty-three years of age and held this post for only a brief period. As 
a result of opposition against him in different quarters, he was obliged 
to leave Italy and to return to his native town. After a short sojourn 
there, he died at the early age of 37, as a result of an operation (See 
Jew. Ency. IV, 506-7). [G] 

2 Judah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz was Rabbi of Padua for forty-seven 
years. In his quarrel with Delmedigo, he was supported by Elijah 
Mizrahi. His writings were all destroyed in the sack of Padua, which 
occurred soon after his death. Only sixteen of his responsa were later 
discovered and included in a collection of responsa of his grandson, Meir 
Katzenelenbogen and these contain many interesting data about the 
history and customs of his time. (Jew. Ency. VIII. 604-5) [G] 


ELIAS DEL MEDIGO 53 


ordinary caution of Del Medigo not to offend public 
opinion, he must have met the displeasure of some of his 
coreligionists. Kabbalism was then in high repute in Italy. 
Any Hebrew daring to impugn the genuineness of the Zohar, 
or criticise practices founded on the sayings of that book, 
had to bear the brunt of prejudice, and submit to being 
considered a man of little faith. Del Medigo, imbued with 
the teaching of Saadia Gaon, having shown himself a 
staunch defender and disciple of Maimonides, could not 
give his assent to prevailing notions. Clear reasoning was 
his gauge; therewith he measured Judaism, and found it 
not wanting. 


Many books, reflecting the perspicuity of his mind, is- 
sued from his pen, but they shared the fate of others, which 
time—in the absence of the printing press—has consigned 
to oblivion. An astronomical essay is preserved in manu- 
script in the Oppenheim collection of rare books.! Three 
volumes in Latin on “The Unity of the Supreme Intelligence,” 
‘“The Prime Cause,’’ and “The Essence of Creation,’ are 
said, by one of his descendants,? to exist, together with 
valuable annotations on the works of Ibn Rashd (Averroes). 
But of all the compositions attributed to Elias Del Medigo, 
none is so generally known as his ‘‘Behinat ha-Dat”’ (Re- 
ligion Examined). 


t The Oppenheim collection of Hebrew books and manuscripts is 
the basis of the great Bodleian Library at Oxford. It originally belonged 
to David Oppenheim, Rabbi of Prague, who was one of the most im- 
portant figures in Jewry, during the latter part of the seventeenth and 
the beginning of the eighteenth centuries. His library, which was the 
most famous collection at the time, was later (1829) sold to the Bodleian 
Library. It numbered about 5400 volumes, dealing with all branches 
of Jewish learning. [G] 

2 Possibly Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (1591-1655), although the 
exact reference isnot knowntome. Some ofthese essays were published. 
The work of Delmedigo containing the essays mentioned here, together 
with notes on Averroes, was published in a volume, Venice, 1501, while 
several of his translations of Averroes have also been published, although 
some are still in manuscript in the Paris Library (see Jew. Ency. IV, 507) 
[G] 


54 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Saul Cohen Tedeschi, an ardent admirer of his teacher, 
urged him to publish the views he held on Judaism, show- 
ing how it harmonizes with philosophy, in order that he 
might thus strengthen in faith those who wavered, and 
weaken the power of the advocates of mysticism. Del 
Medigo’s compliance with the request enriched literature 
with the book aforenamed. It comprises three parts. In 
the first the author seeks to determine whether the study 
of logic and metaphysics is obligatory on an Israelite; or, 
if not obligatory, whether it is permitted. He concludes, 
that although the Mosaic religion does not demand of its 
votaries a knowledge of science, which, to the masses, might 
prove useless, if not dangerous, the attainment thereof is 
essential to the few leading minds; for‘ by it, will they arrive 
at the correct understanding of the First Cause of all 
created beings. 

He qualifies his position, however, by stating, that 
whenever science seems to contradict the Scriptures, the 
learned, like the untutored, must postpone their acceptance 
of the former. Thus, for instance, notwithstanding that 
a belief in miracles is not a cardinal principle in the Law, 
it would be wrong to agree with the theory which stigma- 
tises that belief as unphilosophical, for the Bible has chron- 
icled the performance of wonders, through the will of the 
Supreme. But should any religion oppose the eternal truths 
exhibited by the hand of God in nature and divinely im- 
planted in the human breast, or should it gainsay what is 
evident to all beings endowed with a sound mind, we ought 
to consider it a false religion. Judaism, however, inculcates 
nothing abhorrent to reason, unless a heated imagination 
misrepresents it. The admission of prophecy, of future 
reward and punishment, may be regarded as an act of faith, 


t Saul Cohen Ashkenazi (Tedeschi) was born in Candia 1470, and 
died in Constantinople in 1523. His principal work is a philosophic 
treatise in the form of questions addressed to Isaac Abarbanel and the 
latter's replies, published in Venice, 1574. He also wrote a supplement 
to his teacher’s work ‘‘ Behinat ha-Dat”’, published in Basel, 1629 (Jew. 
Ency., II, 201) [GI 


ELIAS DEL MEDIGO 55 


independent of reason; but it is not such faith that the intel- 
lect revolts against. Then he cursorily proceeds to unfold 
the beauty of the Mosaic revelation, telling how those who 
sought to subject it altogether to their own mental analysis, 
showed themselves neither true theologians nor true philo- 
sophers. 

The second part contains an exposition of what the 
author deems cardinal points in Judaism; of their number; 
and of the propriety of distinguishing what is essential from 
that which flows from it, as a streamlet from the main 
source. With respect to this topic, Del Medigo follows 
precisely in the wake of Maimonides, striving all along to 
support himself on passages from Holy Writ, or on Rab- 
binical dicta; and, like the great master whom he chose as a 
model, our author admits that neither the knowledge of the 
principal creeds, nor the literal word of the Mosaic legis- 
lation, constitutes Judaism. He contends, with much 
force, that the necessity of generalising the Mosaic pre- 
scriptions implies the acceptance of traditions and the rules 
of logic laid down by the Sages for the application of the 
Law. While upon that subject, he alludes to the sect of 
Karaites, whom he charges with self-contradiction, because, 
rejecting Rabbinism, they are tossed on a sea of doubts 
by the unsettled opinions of their own religious chiefs. 
Assuming the defence of Talmudists, he deprecates never- 
theless the redaction of the Mishnah, and kindred works, 
as tending to hamper, in a measure, the actions of an 
ecclesiastical court; for, whereas formerly it was guided by 
general principles applied to circumstances, now it must 
abide by the written decisions. This he considers a draw- 
back. 

But he sees no evil equal to that which the sect of Kab- 
balists perpetrates. He conceives that all must agree in 
calling it mischievous. Literalists and traditionalists, philo- 
sophers and logicians can but scout the idea of fastening upon 
the Scriptures a meaning foreign to them, contrived through 
numerical combinations, or the initials of some words in the 
text. Reason, moreover, is shocked by the ideas set forth, 


56 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


touching the Sephirot, or emanations, which have been vari- 
ously regarded as Divine Powers and as Mediators. And 
Del Medigo, determined to overthrow the bulwark of Kab- 
balism, attacks the Zohar, arguing from internal and external 
evidences, that it is a spurious work; and he emphasizes 
the fact that although attributed to the ancient sage, R. 
Simeon Ben Yohai, it was made public only within the last 
three hundred years (about the eleventh century). 

After having employed his sharp intellect against the 
Zoharists, our author turns it against the would-be philoso- 
phers of his time. He upbraids them for having distorted 
the signification of the Torah, in their endeavors to reconcile 
it with the speculations of theorists. He judges it equally 
absurd and destructive to attach rationalistic views to the 
sayings and deeds of Moses, as to enshroud them in mystic- 
ism. And he laments furthermore the abuse made of the 
pen; for, instead of withholding from the multitude a great 
deal apt to be misapprehended and misapplied, every scholar 
seems anxious to give publicity to his own construction of 
the Law. This leads Del Medigo to speak of the bold 
figures and legends of the Talmud, which, having been 
written down, ought to be explained in part, when they 
convey useful lessons, and remain unexplained when the 
sense is too obscure, or calculated to mislead the minds of 
the untutored; and, inasmuch as the Agadic portions of the 
Talmud contain nothing which is binding on a Jew, he 
can do no wrong by disagreeing with what has been brought 
to his attention. 

The third part of ‘‘Behinat ha-Dat’’ discusses the 
question of assigning reasons to the precepts of the Law. 
The author is of the opinion that there must be a reason 
for every command, and that it behooves us to seek it out 
when not clearly expressed in the Mosaic code. He main- 
tains that to discharge our religious duties with zeal, and to 
perfect ourselves as far as attainable, we must know the 
design of God in ordaining certain rules; but at the same 
time he counsels caution, and objects to committing such 
reasons, in every instance, to writing; for they might prove, 


ELIAS DEL MEDIGO oy 


after all, mere conjectures, breeding skepticism in the simple- 
hearted. And, as if fearing he had allowed the human in- 
tellect too wide a scope in Biblical researches, he sums up 
his arguments by reminding the reader that action is what 
Judaism demands of its followers, not speculative philoso- 
phy; and that they who imagine to serve Israel’s God by 
abstractions are pursuing the way to perdition. The man 
of learning who loves religion ought, therefore, to study time 
and circumstance, and be guided by them in his speaking 
and in his writing. 

The style of the book is studiously concise; its ex- 
pressions forcible and pithy. In the Vienna edition of 1833, 
Reggio? undertook to comment on it, and add _ thereto 
extensive annotations; but, in so doing, he transcended his 
limits, and rather indited a supplement to his own ‘“‘ha- 
Torah weha-Pilusufia’’, than a mere elucidation of the work 
of Del Medigo. 


* Isaac Samuel Reggio was an important figure in Jewish circles 
during the first half of the last century. He was regarded as a liberal 
and the Italian Jews looked upon him as an Italian Mendelssohn. It 
was natural that the liberal views of Delmedigo should attract his at- 
tention, as did also the liberal views of Leon de Modena, whose supposed- 
ly heretical pamphlet he edited and annotated. The book ‘‘ha-Torah 
weha-Pilusufia’’, to which reference is here made, is a work in which 
the attempt is made to reconcile religion with science. Reggio goes a 
step further and says that religion and science are indispensable to 
oneanother, [G] 


V. AZARIAH DE ROSSI 


The Italian family of De Rossi boasts of a high descent. 
That the rude and heartless soldier, miscalled ‘the delight 
of mankind,” sought to grace his triumphant entry into the 
“eternal city’’ by carrying thither some of the most promi- 
nent Jews, is certain; but that they who assume to trace 
their ancestry from the period of Titus can be credited, any 
more than they who have, at various times, claimed lineal 
descent from David, is an open question. The lovers of 
literature, however, care little about Azariah’s extraction. 
When he himself disclaims any title to veneration, simply 
because of “‘the ancestral tradition of being one of the four 
distinguished families, whom Titus exiled to Rome,” others 
may be justified in attaching to it no importance.? 

The advantage derived from a perusal of valuable 
writings will neither be increased by the knowledge that 
the author was the scion of a noble stock, nor lessened by the 
belief that his predecessors ranked no higher than the bulk 
of mankind. Suffice that the book ‘‘Meor ‘Enayim’’ is 
truly what the name denotes: a light to the mind’s eye. 
De Rossi tells us that he devoted one year to its preparation 
and half a year to revising and publishing it. To employ 
an equal time in examining it point by point, and compar- 
ing it with more modern productions, which bear on the 
numerous subjects directly or incidentally treated, would 
amply repay the student. He would rise a ripe scholar, 
after having conned a work which makes its reader ac- 
quainted with a host of Jewish and Gentile celebrities. 

Zunz did not indulge in any hyperbole when he wrote 
(Kerem Hemed, vol. v.) that Azariah De Rossi reached, by 
his towering mind, the stronghold of error, stormed it and 


* Azariah de Rossi was born in Mantua in 1513 or 1514 and died in 
1578. His family preserved the tradition that their ancestor was 
brought by Titus from Jerusalem to Rome after the destruction of the 
second Temple. [G] 


AZARIAH DE ROSSI 59 


levelled it to the ground; that he stands alone among the 
learned of his days for unwearied industry in collecting and 
scanning rare manuscripts, and for reviving the memories of 
teachers of great eminence in ages past. And yet it would 
be far from the truth to represent the book as perfect. 
The mere bird’s-eye-view that can be had in this sketch will 
reveal in it several blemishes. 

The “ Meor ‘Enayim”’ owes its origin to a circumstance 
which is devoid of interest at this distance of time, but which 
affected very sensibly the inhabitants of Ferrara in the 
year 1570. 

About ten o’clock at night, on the 18th of November, a 
terrific earthquake turned men’s dwellings into graves. The 
shrieks of those who fled, they knew not whither, mingled 
with the moans of the dying. Repeated shocks, on suc- 
cessive days, made large numbers a prey to uncontrollable 
dread; they sickened, never to recover. Others, abandon- 
ing their homes and substance, wandered abroad, as if 
bereft of reason. 

De Rossi gives, in easy style, a graphic description of 
the event. He believes it a duty to relate to posterity how 
the power of the Creator had manifested itself. He di- 
lates on the subject, to prove that he does not altogether 
agree with Greek philosophers, who attribute sudden dis- 
asters to natural causes, but argues forcibly and—quoting 
also Scriptural and Rabbinical authorities, concludes—that 
the invisible hand of God uses nature—its own creation— 
to mete out men’s deserts. He then branches out to com- 
ment scientifically on narratives in sacred and secular works 
relative to earthquakes, and remarks that what happened 
to his wife would have confounded an Esculapius and a 
Hippocrates. She had moved into her daughter’s room, 
shortly before the roof of the house suddenly fell into her 
own chambers. The fright occasioned turned the color of 
her skin to a deep yellow, and from that moment she craved 
for nothing but salt. Bread and salt became to her a most 
delicious food. Yet that morbid desire he holds to have 
been her cure. Without taking any medicine her yellow- 


60 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


ness decreased, and her natural color returned. Thereupon, 
De Rossi reasons about our ignorance of the wonders of 
nature, and suggests the possibility that the quantity of 
pure salt his wife ate destroyed the effect of the saline 
and sulphuric particles which may have entered her system 
at the upheaving of the earth. 

The calamity, however, which reduced many to poverty 
compelled Azariah also to leave Ferrara, and take up a 
temporary abode on the south side of the river Po. There 
he made the acquaintance of a learned Christian, who di- 
verted his mind from existing troubles by reading a Latin 
rendering of Aristeas’s account of the origin of the Septu- 
agint. Unable to understand some obscure passages, he 
applied to De Rossi, that he might compare the Latin 
with the Hebrew translation. He was greatly surprised 
on hearing that there was none, and, considering it a re- 
flection upon the national character, urged Azariah to 
undertake the task. He agreed to do so, and that led to 
further literary researches, which swelled into sixty long 
chapters, aside from the volume containing two separate 
topics, viz., the narrative of the earthquake, which he termed 
“Kol Elohim,” (the Voice of God), and the translation of 
Aristeas, ‘‘Hadrat Zekenim”’ (Honor to the Elders). The 
latter, as generally known, is a suppositious communication 
of Aristeas, a confidential friend of King Ptolemy Phila- 
delphus, to his brother Phylocrates. It tells how Deme- 
trius, anxious to enrich the famous library at Alexandria 
with every work obtainable, advised his royal master to 
procure the sacred books of the Jews, the contents of which 
he had heard to be of great excellence. Ptolemy gladly as- 
sented, and Aristeas, who had always befriended the He- 
brew people, seized the opportunity offered to do them good, 
by saying that since the conqueror asked a favor of the 
conquered, it would redound to his honor to manumit the 
thousands whom his father had enslaved. Then, bound by 
gratitude, the learned in Jerusalem would prepare such a 
version of the Scriptures as might enhance the value of his 
vast collection of books. The word created the desired 


AZARIAH DE ROSSI 61 


impression, and the Egyptian monarch, after having paid 
an immense sum out of his own treasury to ransom all 
Jewish prisoners, and free all Jewish bondmen, directed a 
letter, couched in respectful language, to a certain Eleazar, 
the officiating high priest of the time. He requested that, 
from each of the twelve tribes, six men, fully qualified to 
render into choice Greek the laws of Israel, might be sent 
to Alexandria. 


Eleazar responded in terms of extreme humility, and 
appointed, as ordered, seventy-two individuals of quick 
understanding, of broad culture, of high standing, fitted 
in every way to fulfill their mission with credit to themselves 
and their people. They carried with them to the Egyptian 
Capital scrolls, whereon the law was written in golden let- 
ters, and whose parchment sheets were so wonderfully put 
together, that none could detect a joint. 


During a number of days, the scholars were munificently 
entertained at the royal table, and they gave evidence of 
profound wisdom by the solution of questions propounded. 
Afterwards, Demetrius took the seventy-two elders to a 
distant island, delightfully situated. There each of them 
in solitude translated the whole Scriptures in seventy-two 
days; and, comparing all their various renderings, they ad- 
opted, by common consent, the most perfect. 


Ptolemy listened with intense interest to what was read. 
He bowed reverently to the Law, ordered that it be kept with 
exceeding respect, dismissed the wise men with rich presents, 
invited them to honor him again with their visit, and, 
bestowing on Eleazar, the priest, and on the Temple costly 
presents, sent all the people of Israel greetings. Such is the 
summary of the epistle of Aristeas to his brother Philo- 
crates. De Rossi accepted it as true in all its details. 
Modern criticism has seen where it is at fault, and declared 
it spurious.‘ That a Greek translation of the Pentateuch— 


t Modern critics consider the Letter of Aristeas a work written 
by a Jew long after a Greek version of parts, and possibly also of the 
whole, Bible existed. The date of its composition is variously given 


62 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


not of the whole Bible—was made under the auspices of 
King Ptolemy, cannot be doubted. Besides Josephus, 
Philo, and the fathers of the Christian Church, the Talmud 
has recorded the incident, somewhat hyperbolically, in 
the treatise Megillah.t But that the so-called Septuagint 
version of the entire Scriptures should have had the origin 
related above, is impossible. ; 

Without citing all the incongruities the subject pre- 
sents, it may at once be perceived that the selection of six 
men from the twelve tribes is a palpable anachronism, since 
there existed then only two tribes—Judah and Benjamin. 
So also the idea of the Law being written with golden letters 
is preposterous, because contrary to traditional usage. It 
is not improbable, nevertheless, that to supply the want 
of the Hellenistic Jews, who had lost, in a great measure, 
the knowledge of the Hebrew language, a Greek rendering 
of the Books of Moses was undertaken as early as three 
hundred years before the vulgar era; that it met the ap- 
proval of Ptolemy, a patron of learning; and that in the 
course of time the other portions of Holy Writ were com- 
pleted by different writers. 

Azariah endeavors strenuously to defend his statement 
in the sequel of the ‘‘ Meor ‘Enayim,”’ and with considerable 
ingenuity to explain away difficulties of which he is aware. 
While so engaged, he incidentally exhibits a familiarity 
with the productions of his predecessors, truly amazing. 
But conceding that he was a scholar of extraordinary abiii- 
ties, a ready writer and an acknowledged critic, he failed 
at times to substantiate his assertions, because he leaned for 
support on broken reeds. His references to the Book of 
Eldad, the Danite, on the ten tribes; to the fabulous 
story about the river Sabbatyon, and to the Zohar, will 
not, at present, carry any weight; yet these flaws are hidden 
under the wide-branched knowledge extending through the 


by different critics (Kautzsch, Apokryphen u. Pseudepigraphen des 
alten Testaments, vol. II, 131; Thackeray, The Letter of Aristeas; 
Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudoepigrapha). [G] 

t 9a, b; Soferim I. 8. [G] 


AZARIAH DE ROSSI 63 


whole of his production. That part of it which he styled 
“Imre Binah,’’ (Words of Understanding), is almost en- 
cyclopedic in its nature, but one cannot help taking excep- 
tions to some points. 

Thus, in passing his opinion on the character and writ- 
ings of Philo Judaeus, our author does only scant justice 
to avery great man. Philo, or Yedidyah, the Alexandrian, 
as De Rossi calls him, ought not to have been reckoned 
among those “suspected of unfaithfulness towards God 
and the sainted teachers.’’ His voyage to Rome to plead 
before Caius Caligula, in behalf of his brethren, when ex- 
termination had been decreed against them for refusing 
to worship the statue of the self-deified emperor; the pious 
sentiments with which he encouraged his fellow-believers 
after having failed in his embassy, prove him faithful to 
Israel and to God. It must be admitted that his learning 
does not bear the stamp of holiness; that is, the author did 
not draw from the language of inspiration, the Hebrew; 
hence he fell into many errors. And his unacquaintance with 
the traditions, joined with too strong a leaning to the philo- 
sophy of Plato and the Gnostics, caused him to allegorize 
and mystify the plain words of the text. Still, Philo de- 
serves well of his people, because, as demonstrated in the 
pages of the ‘““Meor ‘Enayim,’’ he wrote copiously and 
beautifully for the exaltation of Judaism. 

De Rossi had no need, therefore, of offering a semi- 
apology for quoting him with great frequency. The fear 
he evidently entertained of intensifying the ill-will of such 
who gave him the appellation of ‘“Adom’’ (Rossi), “‘the 
Adomi” (the Idumean or Christian), on account of his 
familiarity with men and books of a secular character, 
ought to have been banished from his mind, when citing 
Philo, the God-fearing and illustrious champion of his 
brethren, the Jews. But if the intelligent reader will differ 
from many of the conclusions of Azariah De Rossi, he must 
feel thankful to him for that creation of new ideas, which, 
Prometheus-like, he quickens and sends forth to a high 
purpose. His daring in controverting accepted notions 


64 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


about Jewish chronology provoked a violent storm. He 
stood his ground, entrenched behind unassailable arguments. 

Having premised that his views do not involve any de- 
parture from religious tenets, he grasps the subject with a 
mighty hold, handles it in a masterly manner, points out 
where errors lie, and rebuts the arguments of both friends 
and foes. With equal cogency he exposes the folly of im- 
agining to do the Sages reverence by accepting literally their 
bold oriental similes; whereas, such credulity, he contends, is 
a satire on human intellect, and a weapon of ridicule in the 
hand of enemies. 

De Rossi says that to believe, for instance, that the 
death of Titus was occasioned by a gnat, which passed from 
his nostrils into his brains and swelled immensely, till at 
the end of seven years it burst the head open,' would be to 
credit what is a physical impossibility, and an _ historical 
contradiction. Invoking the authority of scientists and of 
Roman chroniclers to prove himself correct, he intimates that 
the Rabbinical hyperbole may have been intended as a 
parable conveying a moral. It may signify the torments 
which an avenging God inflicts upon those who seek the 
extermination of Israel; the slight means by which He will 
achieve prodigious ends. It is to be regretted that in this, 
as in other instances, our author neutralizes, in a degree, 
the effect of his broad teaching, by an undisguised fear 
of men inimical to a critical study of religious matters. 
Having widened the horizon of our knowledge, he narrows 
it again by such remarks as the following: ‘‘ However, 
should the reader conceive that to admit improbabilities 
is to extol the powers of the Almighty, (who can accom- 
plish all things,) let what we have advanced be considered 
as if not written.’’ Was it humility that spoke or dread 
of being proscribed as a heretic? Both feelings may have 
blended together, but neither the meekness nor the timidity 
manifested prevented his book from being fiercely attacked 
and anathematized.? 


* See Gittin 56a. [G] 
2 Joseph Caro, the compiler of the Shulhan Aruk, ordered one of 


AZARIAH DE ROSSI 65 


Willing to judge charitably even of those who forbade 
looking upon a splendid monument of Jewish literature, 
ascribing the fault more to the times than to the men them- 
selves, one cannot but feel indignant at the unscrupulous- 
ness of some, who took advantage of the suppression of 
De Rossi’s productions to steal sparkling gems from the 
interdicted treasury. As Zunz observes, many bedecked 
themselves with ornaments belonging to the Italian savant, 
without condescending to acknowledge the owner.—Ibn 
Yahia, in his ‘‘Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah,’’ reproduced as 
if emanating from his pen, whole chapters from the ‘‘Meor 
‘Enayim.’”’ What he says of Onkelos, the Chaldaic trans- 
lator, and Akilas or Aquila, who rendered Hoiy Writ in 
Greek; what he sets forth regarding the number of high 
priests who officiated in the second Temple; respecting the 
futility of speculating on the time of the final restoration; 
and touching the prevalence of the Syriac language during 
the period between the return of the Judeans to Palestine 
and their dispersion under the Romans, may be pronounced 
shameless plagiarism. That ungenerous act is the more to 
be condemned, because the author’s diction is not always 
preserved in its original form, but a coarse pen mars it 
so as to be scarcely identified as stolen property?. Fortun- 
ately, much of the intolerance rife in the sixteenth century 
has been expunged from orthodox Italy. The countrymen 
and coreligionists of Azariah De Rossi have assigned to him 
a niche in the temple of fame, while Gentile celebrities quote 


the members of his Rabbinical College at Safed, Elisha Gallico, to draw 
up an order for the consignment of De Rossi’s works to the flames. 
Caro, however, died before he signed this document. Even the Rabbis 
of Mantua, where de Rossi was known and admired, forbade the reading 
of his works by young people under the age of twenty-five. (See Graetz. 
History of the Jews, vol. IV, p. 616) [G] 

« Our author is unduly severe on Gedaliah ibn Yahia (1515-1587). 
His work ‘“‘Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah’’ which is a chronicle of the world 
with special reference to Jewish history, is, as Graetz puts it, ‘‘a confused 
medley of authentic historical narratives and mere fables’’. He copied 
from all sources, probably without any intention of making the impression 
that his work was original. [G] 


66 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


him as an authority, and recognize as the effusions of his 
mind what Yahia and his confreres have pilfered. 


A great desideratum is a critical edition of the 
“Meor ‘Enayim.’”’ The pleasure afforded by a perusal 
of the narrative respecting the conversion to Judaism of 
Izates, King of Adiabene, and his mother Helene, translated 
from Josephus and supplemented by a criticism on a passage 
in Bereshit Rabba, bearing on the same theme; the enjoy- 
ment experienced in reading researches on the antiquity of 
the sacred language; learned conjectures about the vowel 
points, the singing notes (Te‘amim or Neginot), and the 
nature of Hebrew versification, would be enhanced by 
a clear type and a correct text. The Berlin edition 
abounds with errors, and is printed on very inferior paper. 
Besides, it shows omissions, which Zunz, in his communi- 
cation alluded to above, points out.t Goldenberg, who 
published the same in the Kerem Hemed, did a valuable 
service when he reproduced some annotations from an 
anonymous author, which reveal the erudite mind of the 
great Rapoport. Among other things, the following is 
related. De Rossi had a dream. A man stood by him, 
and voices cried, ‘‘Dost thou not see the personage 
looking on thee? He is a prophet.’ “If so,’’ said Azariah, 
addressing the stranger, “if thou art indeed inspired, let 
me know how long I have to live.’”’ ‘Yet three years,” 
was the answer. In the morning, as the author awoke, 
he wrote these lines: 


mmw raswn by 
xi to pw iso> 
Now °> non 
ow wy ny 7b 


t The first edition was published in the author’s life time, Mantua, 
1573-75; the second edition, the one referred to here, was published in 
Berlin, 1794; another edition, was issued in Vienna, 1829; the best edition 
is that edited by Zunz, with the supplement of the author’s “ Mazref 
la-Kesef’’, in which he defended himself against his critics, published 
in Wilna, 1863-66. [G] 


AZARIAH DE ROSSI 67 


n’b'w wSp> 10 
noe Sy ds om 
nbp av 34 NS 

ow pobx sown 


As, tranquil, on my bed I lay, 

(‘Twas in Kislev, Shin, Lamed, He) 

A vision came. I heard One say: 

“Yet three—and fiulfilled are thy years.”’ 


Oh, when the third Kislev He sends 
And to its Judge my soul ascends, 
May He whose mercy never ends, 

Let the shadow of death hide my sins.* 


By the wayside of Mantua the bones of the illustrious 
writer rested, and on his grave the above inscription was 
placed, when the dream proved true, in Kislev 5338. Alas! 
the stone shared the fate of him who lay buried beneath. 
Both were rudely cast away to some unknown spot by the 
Italian monks, who sought for more space to build up 
monasteries. 


t Shin, Lamed, He equal 335, corresponding to the year 1574; Shin, 
Lamed, Het, in the second stanza equal 338, i. e. three years later (1577). 
The author’s play on the word sw, which as the last word of the first 
stanza means years, and in the corresponding place in the second stanza 
is used for (scarlet) sins, a translation cannot imitate. [G] 


VI. DAVID NIETO 


David Nieto was born in the city of Venice, about the 
middle of the seventeenth century’. The family name points 
to a Spanish origin. Very probably the sagacious republic, 
that knew how to profit from the baneful errors of a priest- 
ridden monarchy, admitted among the exiles from the Iberian 
territories the ancestors of the subject of this sketch. And 
fortunate it was that many a scholar, whom a cruel edict 
had rendered homeless, should have lighted upon the nur- 
sery of learning, for a new field had opened in that spot for 
the culture of the human intellect. The wonderful inven- 
tion, which created an epoch in the world of letters, could not 
fail to enchain the attention of those who possessed a 
literature varied and rich. It was scarcely half a century 
after Guttenberg brought the art of printing into success- 
ful operation, when the press at Venice issued the famous 
first edition of the Hebrew Bible, with numerous com- 
mentaries. 


Critical minds had revised the latter, and freed them 
from the blunders of copyists. But that undertaking, which 
disclosed in the Jews of Italy abilities of a very high order, 
was followed by others not lessmomentous. What thesages 
of the East had written during the lapse of eight centuries, 
and the philosopho-theologians of Western Europe had en- 
trusted to manuscripts in the Middle Ages, passed under 
review, and was offered for the instruction of thousands in 
the printed pages sent forth by the Jews of the Adriatic. 
To this day, Rabbinical works, published in the press of 
Bomberg, or De Gara, or Justinian, are eagerly sought after 
by the learned. 


David Nieto read those volumes, mused thereupon, and 
acquired the rare gift of imparting the knowledge imbibed, 
clearly and impressively. In the Academy and on the pul- 


* In 1654, and died in London, 1728. [G} 


DAVID NIETO 69 


pit his talents shone brilliantly; and as a jurist—when 
Hebrew communities in Italy were governed by ecclesiastical 
laws (Din Torah)—he displayed a keen judgment. The 
fame of the Venetian Rabbi spread further than his native 
place: it reached Leghorn, peopled by many descendants of 
the exiles from Spain and Portugal, and there the accom- 
plished scholar became the head of a college. While a 
resident of that seaport town in Tuscany, he created a stir 
by his ‘‘ Pascalogia,’’! written in pure Italian, and dedicated 
to a member of the ruling family of the De Medici. That 
work purposed to show the inaccuracies existing in the Calen- 
dar which guided the Roman Church, and the manner 
in which these might be corrected. It won the author 
golden opinions among non-Israelites; while his coreligion- 
ists, whose standard he labored to raise, gave additional 
evidences of their appreciation of his efforts. 


At Leghorn, where David Nieto taught, the name of 
the sage is still held in reverence. One can see there at 
the College ‘‘Reshit Hochmah”’ a Hebrew sonnet from his 
pen, conspicucously placed upon a tablet. It bears the 
initials of the writer, who evidently composed it to urge the 
wealthy to give liberally towards the support of teachers and 
students. To illustrate the idea set forth, the tablet, 
containing those metrical lines, has on the upper part the 
picture of a lighted taper, from which many lamps are 
being kindled; conformably to the saying of Israel’s sages: 
“‘Zeh neheneh wezeh lo hasar,’” viz., the sacred cause may 
be benefited, without entailing material injury to the bene- 
factor. 


But an honor which the Venetian Rabbi richly deserved 
—though he possibly never anticipated it—was awaiting 


t The immediate cause which led our author to indite that work 
appears to have been the unusual occurrence of Easter coming, in 1693, 
a full month earlier than Passover. Such a discrepancy created a deep 
impression on the community, and Christians applied to the celebrated 
Rabbi, anxious to have it explained. 

2B. K. 20a; perhaps the idea conveyed by the saying ‘‘Ner 
I‘Ehad Ner I‘Meah” (Shab. 122a) would fit the picture better. [G] 


70 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


him beyond the Alps. Through the efforts of the illustrious 
Menasseh Ben Israel, Jews had been readmitted into En- 
gland about the time of Nieto’s birth. Many families of 
high standing, from a Sephardic lineage, had settled in the 
city of London. Barely tolerated, at first, their character 
and wealth brought to them, by degrees, considerable 
influence. 

At the opening of the eighteenth century, the synagogue 
in Bevis Marks was already one of the leading congregations 
of Israelites in Europe. The “elders”’ of that body, deem- 
ing it needful that their spiritual guide be a man noted for 
his sterling abilities and well-earned reputation, decided 
upon requesting the Rabbi of Venice, then at Leghorn, to 
assume that charge. Heaccepted. In the discharge of his 
functions, the Ecclesiastical Chief delivered sermons. These, 
emanating from a ripe and distinguished scholar, attracted 
much attention; but on one occasion they elicited strictures 
from the hypercritical, which must have proved galling to 
the lecturer. He was charged with having expressed opinions 
savoring of Spinozism.t The accusation so troubled the 
minds of the London parnasim, that they applied to Rabbi 
Zebi Ashkenazi—a casuistical author of great repute—to 
pass judgement upon the passages criticized. The answer? 
cleared Nieto from the false imputation, and brought him 
into still greater favor among his English constituents. 
An act worth noting in relation with the circumstance just 
narrated, is that the Italian Rabbi himself has left a pam- 
phlet, entitled ‘‘Esh Dat’’, (Zeal for the Law,) wherein he 
forcibly opposes the arguments of a certain Nehemiah Hay- 
yun,? who had advanced theories of a pantheistic character, 


The reference is to Nieto’s ‘“‘Della Divina Providencia, 6 sea 
Naturalezza Universal, 6 Natura Naturante’’, published in London, 
1704. [G] 

2 See Responsa ‘‘Hacham Zebi’’, No. 18. [G] 

3 Nehemiah Hayyun (1650-1730) was a notorious character, who 
created much mischief and strife in various Jewish communities in 
Europe and Asia, during that period of messianic speculations. He was 
a Kabbalist and probably a sympathizer with the doctrines of the Sab- 
bathians, although it is not possible to discover whether he had any 


DAVID NIETO fp) 


claiming they were evolved from the principles underlying 
Judaism. 

But if the slightest suspicion touching the soundness of 
Nieto’s belief was still harbored, it must have been dissi- 
pated when he gave the world the largest and, deservedly, 
most renowned of his writings. He called it ‘“Matte Dan, 
Kuzari Helek Sheni.”’ Explanation of the quaint appell- 
ation, seems necessary.—By the first two Hebrew words 
the author intended to convey a double meaning: that 
of ‘‘Rod of Judgment,” intimating that the work was 
designed to strike down with the force of argument the 
opponents of the Oral Law, and also that of ‘Standard 
of David Nieto’s” (reputation)—nv» signifying both Rod 
and Standard, and 71 (judgment) forming, like D. N., the 
initials of his name. The selection of the third word (71n>) 
explains the plan followed in the presentation of the subject 
viz., that of an imaginary dialogue between an Eastern 
potentate, the king of the Chazars, and the Italian Rabbi. 

To many readers of this sketch the idea which our author 
desired to carry out will be apparent, for they know that in 
the twelfth century the sublime poet, Judah Halevi, gained 
still greater celebrity by a masterly production, entitled 
Kuzari. In it he introduces the ruler of the aforenamed 
country as a convert to Judaism, propounding deep ques- 
tions to a Hebrew Sage on the history, tenets, and practices 
of the chosen people, and eliciting from his interlocutor 
clear and convincing replies. 

Nieto, considering that work a thorough defence of 
the written Law, yet too brief in what concerns the truths 
of Jewish traditions, undertook to fill up the deficiency, and 
to do so by adopting the system of his philosophical pre- 


definite principles at all. He was unscrupulous to the extreme and even 
tried to teach trinitarianism and at one time boasted of his ability to 
attract the Jews to Christiniaity. His controversies with Zebi Ash- 
kenazi are responsible for the establishment of a bitter antagnism be- 
tween the Ashkenazic and the Sephardic communities of Amsterdam 
(Jew. Ency., s. v. Hayyun; Greenstone, The Messiah Idea in Jewish 
History, p. 228). [Gl 


72 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


decessor, as most apt to create an impression. He admits, 
however, at the outset, that the description of his voyage 
to the land of the Chazars is a fiction, and his several dia- 
logues are simply the thoughts suggested by the objections 
which the anti-Rabbinites constantly raise. 

It would be idle, at this period, to discuss whether Judah 
Halevi himself invented the original narrative, with a view 
to attract attention, or whether he founded his book on 
historical data. It is true that, the very existence of the 
kingdom of the Chazars has been unreasonably disputed. 
But whether or not we have the genuine text of the letter 
received by Hasdai ibn Shaprut from King Joseph, relat- 
ing minutely the conversion of Bulan, one of his royal an- 
cestors, and of all his subjects, it has been proved that 
such a letter existed, mapping, moreover, the territories 
which those proselytes occupied far beyond the confines 
of Eastern Russia. 

Nieto disclaims the ability to pronounce a decision 
but craves the honor of having supplemented the writing 
of the immortal Andalusian. His book seems to be the 
performance of a promise made to the heads of the London 
congregation, to whom he dedicates it in high-sounding 
Spanish, as then customary. 

The subject matter is divided into five parts, similar 
to Halevi’s work, and elaborately worked out. To say 
that the reader will see in the second Kuzari, Nieto’s im- 
mense knowledge of theology and science mirrored forth, 
would be to repeat what has been often expressed. The im- 
partial critic, however, will notice likewise a degree of pro- 
lixity not observable in the prototype, and a wish, at times, 
to prove too much, while learnedly defending the Rabbis. 
But these flaws cannot lessen the merits of a composition, 
fraught with invaluable instruction, and it is to be regretted 
that its character prevents conveying an appreciable idea 
thereof in a mere sketch. Only a few salient points can be 
presented, to enable one to judge of the contents. Thus, 
for instance, in the first part, devoted to establish the truth 
that laws not mentioned in the Pentateuch were traditionally 


DAVID NIETO 73 


known and observed long before the Rabbis wrote, he cites 
the following among many illustrations. Nehemiah is em- 
phatic about the prohibition of buying on the Sabbath." 
So determined does that Governor of Judea show himself 
to enforce it, that he exacts a solemn oath from his people 
not to be seen on that day in the market-place; and when, des- 
pite the adjuration, some of the highest in the land purchase 
provisions on the Sabbath from heathen venders, he severely 
censures their conduct as an open violation of the Hebrew 
religion; ordering, moreover, that the gates of the city be 
closed from Friday at sunset to Saturday evening. He 
goes so far as to station guards all around, to prevent traders 
or merchants from coming in. 


Nieto argues that, since the Mosaic code is silent re- 
garding buying or selling on the seventh day of the week, it 
follows that Nehemiah’s firm opposition arose from what 
had been orally transmitted by inspired men to succeeding 
generations. 


In the second part, whose purpose it is to demonstrate 
that the Rabbis could not have invented what they term 
‘traditional law,” our author calls history to his aid. He 
says that, as Persia and Babylon lay beyond the dominions 
of the Roman Empire—which extended westward of those 
countries—and as Jewish inhabitants there acknowledged 
neither the Caesars, nor the Patriarch, (or Nasi,) of the holy 
land, but the ruling dynasty of the Parthians, and their 
own ecclesiastical Chief, the ‘‘Resh Galutha,’’ Palestinian 
Rabbis could not have exercised over such distant commu- 
nities a decided influence. This being so, when an Israelite, 
residing in those climes heard, for example, that the fruit 
“Hadar,” scripturally commanded to be used in the ser- 
vice of the Tabernacle holidays, had been interpreted to 
mean a citron, he would have taken exception, and declared 
it arrogant on the part of the author of the Mishnah to limit 
the sense of the word “Hadar,” which may as well signify a 
handsome apple or a fine pomegranate. Yet, not alone 


* Nehemiah xiii.15-22; x. 32. [G] 


74 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


did none complain, but all accepted the compilation of 
Rabbi Judah, the Prince, as a faithful embodiment of that 
which had been handed down, from time immemorial, for 
the guidance of future ages. 

In the third part, Nieto endeavors to prove that the 
Rabbis did not dispute about the acceptance of an ordinance 
orally transmitted, but about the support it does or does not 
receive from the written Law, or about some minor points 
connected therewith. Thus, the obligation of reading the 
Shema‘ twice a day, elicits no controversy whatever. It is 
only when the exact time for its recital in the morning and 
in the evening is to be determined, that a divergence of opin- 
ion arises. In like manner, the injunctions laid down for 
slaughtering animals whose flesh may be eaten, excite no 
disputation; all agree touching the main rules. One con- 
tends that a defect in the spinal column renders the animal 
unfit for the use of Israelites, another holds different views; 
but all agree that a beast killed by the stroke of an axe or 
diseased in the lungs, is forbidden. 

The fourth part may be rightly designated a monu- 
ment raised to the memory of Israel’s olden preceptors. 
That imaginary colloquy between the King of the Chazars 
and the Italian Rabbi—exceedingly lengthy and digressive 
as it certainly is—cannot be too often perused. It un- 
answerably proves the Rabbis not alone honest of pur- 
pose, but versed in all the branches of learning accessible in 
their days—and greatly in advance of their contempora- 
ries. 

Nieto combats the idea that because R. Eliezer re- 
commended his disciples on his death-bed to forbear stu- 
dying ‘“Higgayon,”’ (a word of very indefinite meaning, 
rendered variously logic,rhetoric,metaphysics, and so forth), 
therefore the Talmudists neglected science. Their thorough 
acquaintance with anatomy is shown in the rulesso minutely 
laid down for examining the entrails of animals, for the. 
search after veins and capillary vessels, etc., in connection 
with the preparation of meat permissible to Jews. Their 
knowledge of geometry and trigonometry is shown in deter- 


DAVID NIETO (i 


mining the space that must separate diverse plants and 
seeds, which the Bible prohibits to be sown in the same 
plot of ground. Their familiarity with what we term 
pathology is demonstrated by their descriptions of the im- 
perfections rendering an animal unfit for presentation as 
a sacrifice. Their complete understanding of astronomical 
calculations is illustrated by a Calendar regulated with such 
precision, as to challenge the admiration of the learned. 


It is singular, however, that our author, who, respecting 
this last named science, entertains most advanced ideas— 
believing, for instance, that the planets are, like the earth, 
inhabited by sentient beings—adheres to the Ptolemaic 
system, only because of the well-known passage in Joshua, 
when the sun is asked to stand still until the battle against 
the allied armies is won by Israel. Exhibiting absolute 
independence in opposing Aristotle—to whose dictum, even 
in Nieto’s time, scholars bowed obediently; placing him- 
self, on several occasions, in open antagonism to Descartes; 
quoting even the Epicurean philosopher Gassendi in support 
of his own reasonings; admitting, in the abstract, the sound- 
ness of the Copernican system; he yet refuses to yield to its 
teaching with regard to the rotary motion of our globe, 
deeming his so doing impiety; as if Holy Writ, by saying, 
“the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to 
go down about a whole day,’”* had not expressed itself as 
men would speak even now, regardless of well-founded 
scientific theories. (Dibberah Torah k‘Leshon Bene Adam.)? 

The fifth, and most lengthy, part of the Matte Dan 
opens with a discussion, in which the Rabbis and Copernicus 
are made to agree on the nature of the atmosphere and the 
whirling of celestial bodies through boundless space. From 
that Nieto passes on to explain the Jewish Calendar in the 
most elaborate and detailed manner. He begins with the 
known fact that our year is lunar, or of twelve months, each 
month containing alternately twenty-nine and thirty days, 


t Joshua x.12,13. [G] 
2 Ber. 31b_ [G] 


76 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


to suit the periodical reappearance of the so-called new moon; 
claims for its origin Scriptural authority; maintains that 
the intercalation of a month (additional Adar)seven times 
in acycle of nineteen years, has likewise its foundation in 
the holy volumes; and opposes with cogent arguments 
the assertion that the Hebrews learned this method—by 
which Passover happens always in Adzd, or after the vernal 
equinox, (about the 26th of March)—from the Greeks, or 
from the Christian Council that met at Nice (Bithinia) in 
325 of the vulgar era. 


Then he triumphantly proves the accuracy of Rabbini- 
cal calculations, citing theerrors of the Julian calendar 
which compelled Pope Gregory XIII., in 1582, to make 
October a month of twenty-one instead of thirty-one days, 
lest Easter might gradually fall in the summer instead of 
in the spring. The Venetian Sage writes learnedly and ex- 
haustively on this subject, and dwells on the character and 
necessity of ‘‘Dehiyyot”’ (translocations or postponements) 
through which new moons and festivals are put off for hours, 
and not infrequently for one and two days. He sets forth 
the labors of our mathematicians and astronomers, stating 
what Samuel of Nehardea! established, wherein this proved 
faulty, and how Rab Adda’s keen perception rectified it. 
He bestows due encomium on R. Hillel,” the younger, citing 
his masterly arrangement, which has offered Israelites, 
everywhere, an unerring guide for the observance of their 
sacred seasons. 

Alluding to the anxiety of Christians not to judaize their 
holidays—which led to a needless deferring of Easter— 
Nieto points out the diversity existing between the Greek 
and Roman Church, and how far each of them coincides or 


* Mar Samuel, or Samuel Yarhinai, who lived in the second century 
and was known as an astronomer (Ber. 58b) is said to have prepared 
calendar tables. R. Adda, a contemporary of Mar Samuel, is also reputed 
to have been the author of awork onthecalendar. [G] 

2 Hillel II (330-365) formulated and published the rules for fixing 
the calendar, which had been until then kept as a secret in the patri- 
archal family. [G] 


DAVID NIETO 77 


disagrees with Hebrew computations. His discussion of 
this topic exihibits his extensive erudition in history, both 
ancient and modern, and the depth of his knowledge in 
science. So well panoplied, he defies refutation, and es- 
tablishes beyond cavil the verity which Gentile scholars 
now fully acknowledge, namely, “‘The boast that Israelites 
make of their exactness in reckoning new moons and sea- 
sons, is truly well-founded.’’ (Father Cossali, Professor 
of Astronomy at Parma in 1802.) 

The second Kuzari, of which only a bird’s-eye view could 
be given in this sketch, has a double claim to the admiration 
of scholars, for it was simultaneously produced in two lan- 
guages—Hebrew and Spanish. The latter is not by any 
means a servile translation, but a free and clear version, 
emanating from the pen of the distinguished Rabbi him- 
self. The Spanish phrases often elaborate what the sacred 
tongue expresses, as is its wont, concisely; thus enabling the 
reader to enter more fully into the spirit of the author. 

To this, confessedly great merit, the work, as first 
issued from the press, adds another. It is a model of ty- 
pography and book making, in its form and its correctness. 
Printed in London more than one hundred and sixty years 
ago, that volume, so beautifully produced, reflects honor 
upon the Bevis Marks Congregation, under whose auspices 
it was published, and it remains to this day a testimony to the 
learning, discernment, and piety of their former spiritual 
leader, the Italian, David Nieto. 


VII. SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO: 


pax mp ad sorb 
773 yrsw) pr qnra dy ds 
Vy PS TY OF WS WPS Vos 
In every age the world has produced men whose earliest 
infancy foreshadowed their future greatness. There was a 
popular saying in the days of the Talmud:? ‘The healthy 
growth of a plant may be predicted when yet in its incipient 
stage’; and verily the present century has scarcely offered 
a more striking illustration of this adage than in the life of 
our renowned co-religionist whose pure spirit ascended 
the heavens on the eve of last Kippur. Like the sage of 
old, (Rabbah) who, from the sagacious answer of his young 
disciples, divined the high position they were destined to 
occupy, so must the parents of Samuel David Luzzatto 
have formed the brightest anticipations concerning their 
son, almost from his first utterance. Ata period when a 
child’s speech is yet indistinct, he could read fluently the 
Scriptures in the original text. An occurrence so extraor- 
dinary must needs have been regarded as the dawning of 
a great intellectual light. To whom was entrusted the 
cultivation of talents so rare?+ Under what system did a 
t The appreciation of Samuel David Luzzatto was written by Dr. 
Morais soon after Luzzatto’s death, in 1866, and was published in the 
Occident vol. 23, p. 442 ff. Ina note appended to this article in hand- 
writing, probably written many years later, Dr. Morais says: ‘‘My 
knowledge of the history and life-work of Luzzatto was very meagre in 
comparison with that which I have acquired since I wrote this imperfect 
biography in 1866. See Autobiography of Luzzatto etc.—’’. The last 
refers to Luzzatto’s ‘‘Autobiographie’’, translated into German by 
M. Grunwald, wherein are incorporated many notes by our author. In 
spite of its admitted imperfections, it was deemed proper to include this 
appreciation in our collection as it breathes the pure love and admira- 
tion of our author for the great Italian scholar. [G] 
2 Berakot 48a [G] 
3 ib., where Rabbah expresses his opinion as to the future careers of 
his two most beloved disiciples: Raba and Abaye. [G] 
4 W.H.Saraval is sometimes called by him ‘‘ my learned preceptor;’, 
but we have been unable to ascertain whether he alone is entitled to 
that honorable appellation. [In an additional note published in the 


SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 79 


mind so wondrously gifted expand? These are questions 
which will doubtless ere long be solved by others more 
intimately acquainted with the history of the late professor 
in the Rabbinical College of Padua. His autobiography 
enriched some years since the columns of a Jewish periodical* 
but only the number which relates the peculiar circumstance 
to which we have just alluded, was offered for our perusal. 

We, however, learn from a beautiful psalm he composed, 
that the paternal hand implanted the seeds which bore 
luxuriant fruit. Thestudy of the Hebrew Bible was deemed, 
in days gone by, the imperative duty of every Israelite. In 
Italy, a man professing our religion must, indeed, have been 
very illiterate, if he was not familiar with the greater por- 
tion of the inspired pages. For how could it be otherwise? 
At the schools its tuition constituted an object of primary 
importance: In many synagogues and devotional gather- 
ings, its recital and interpretation invariably followed the 
evening service. At home, the practice of setting a time 
apart for learning the Law was almost universal. Our 
unsophisticated predecessors believed that the most effec- 
tive means to prevent filial insubordination and domestic 
strife, was to draw the mind to meditation upon God’s 
holy commands.? 

But the father of our celebrated scholar possessed the 
knowledge of the sacred language in more than an ordinary 
degree; for his opinion on sundry Scriptural passages, as 
quoted by his son,3 is peculiarly striking. Although devoted 
to a mechanical occupation, the descendant of Hebrew 
poets and philosophers did not neglect that branch of learn- 
ing in which the family of the Luzzattos had long excelled. 


Occident, vol. 23 p. 505, our author adds also the name of R. Mordecai 
Isaac Cologna as one of Luzzatto’s early preceptors. [G]] 

t Ha-Maggid, published in Lyck, by L. Silbermann. 

2 Sanhedrin 92a; ‘A house in which no words of study are heard 
will be consumed by fire”. Our author adds the word indicating the 
interpretation of the word ‘‘Fire” as the ‘fire of strife’. In the 
Talmudic text the word “‘at night’ is added, which is omitted by our 
author. [G] 

3 See btnwn page 12. 


80 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


To him, therefore, is Israel deeply indebted for the develop- 
ing of that genius now, alas! quenched in death. All 
honor to such a father! omazwo by wy ada aon roy 
“The pious shall enjoy glory, they shall sing in their 
resting places;’’? but who can add to the fame of the illus- 
trious son? 

Learned Germany treasures his productions with 
those of her Mendelssohn and her Naphtali Hertz Wessely. 
Italy has assigned to him a place next to her Del Medigo, 
her De Rossi, and her Leon de Modena; for he com- 
bined with intellectual acumen and profound knowledge a 
flow of diction that forced the mind back to the days in 
which Hebrew was a living language. Most appropriate is 
the title of the book of poems which he published in his 
youth oy ND “Sweet Harp.’”’ Aye, he grasped the harp 
hanging on weeping willows, and at his touch melodious 
strains ravished the soul. Lamenting the criminal apathy 
of Israel to the decaying state of their precious inheritance, 
he vowed to devote his energies in raising it to the ancient 
standing. It is inexpressibly delightful to hear him at the 
age of seventeen conjure his undying spirit to pervade his 
whole being that he might aspire only to noble attainment. ? 
Much has he written, multifarious have been the subjects 
of which his prolific pen has treated, but every line traced 
by Samuel David Luzzatto proves his earnestness,—it bears 
the impress of truthfulness. In an age, when criticism seems 
directed to undermine the foundations of revealed religion, 
he was the champion that stood up in its defence. He over- 
turned the subtleties of Eichhorn, the untenable reasoning 
of De Wette. Burning with zeal for Judaism and with 
love of God, he buckled on his armor to combat the dan- 
gerous theories of Spinoza, spreading fast among some of 
our co-religionists in Northern Europe; and of a friend, who 
had eulogized the Dutch philosopher in the language of 
Holy Writ, he complained, because he had employed an 


t Psalms cxlix.5. [G] 
2 bm dy1 ,0b> opry by onaw mn joa dy ody bys (arya 19 page 2) 
3 See btnwp in various places. 


SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 81 


elegant style so unsuitably. The same ardor he brought 
to the task of rebutting the sophisms of the Rationalists 
and Spinozists, our author exhibited in following Bibli- 
cal researches.t During the year which saw his poetical 
effusions issue from the press, he began that series of 
articles on Hebrew synonyms, which, while they are an in- 
valuable acquisition to literature, form the acknowledged 
attraction of the periodical in which they were inserted.’ 
What a vast amount of erudition! What depth of thought 
in defining with precision the sense of words often misap- 
prehended! How, at a stroke of his pen, seeming incon- 
gruities change into harmonies, and obscure passages be- 
come clear to the minds of even the untutored! His 
fame as an eminent philologist spread now far and wide. 
His excellent Italian version of the daily service and of a 
portion of the Scriptures, had rendered his name a household 
word in the land of his birth; his contributions to foreign 
literature, his ready answers to abstruse questions, his cor- 
dial assistance to all men of letters, and, above all, his repu- 
tation as a critic of unbiased judgment and unswerving 
truthfulness, drew toward him the admiration of students 
and the esteem of the learned. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, that at the opening of the Rabbinical College at Padua 
in 1829, he should have been chosen to teach there the 
doctrines of Judaism and Biblical Exegesis. 

Endowed with extraordinary abilities, inspired with 
love for his religion and his people, ever intent upon per- 
petuating and spreading the knowledge of sacred literature, 
Luzzatto was the man among his contemporaries best 
qualified to fill that important station. The zeal that he 
brought to bear on the discharge of his official duties is 
attested by the work of his hands. A commentary on 
Isaiah, accompanied by an Italian translation, was un- 
dertaken for the instruction of his pupils. It is pref- 


t Introduction to the btnwp, and to the 7x¥1NT N32. 

2 ony 1223 nearly throughout its numbers. 

3 To the infinite regret of all the lovers of literature, only nineteen 
chapters have hitherto been published, though unprinted copies of the 


82 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


aced by a dissertation on the theories evolved from the 
inspired writings, and on the method to be pursued in order 
to enter fully into the spirit which pervades them. Two 
eminent German scholars, sensible of the value of that 
masterly production, requested of its renowned author 
permission to render it into their vernacular. He refused 
from no mean motive, but because his eager desire (so he 
expresses himself) had always been to scatter in Israel books 
composed in Hebrew—whatever the subject might be— 
so that all his brethren throughout the countries of their 
dispersion might reap the benefits of his labor; and the 
holy tongue might, partially at least, be revived in their midst. 


But the students before whom the beauties and truths 
of our Bible were daily unfolded, would have understood 
only imperfectly their great teacher, unless conversant 
with Hebrew grammar. This essential study had for 
centuries past been wofully neglected; and although 
Italy can boast of an Archivolti, of a Calimani and a 
Romanelli, the knowledge they sought to promote gained 
but comparatively few votaries. To our Luzzatto is due 
the merit of having again attracted to it the attention 
of the Jewish public in the Peninsula. With his wonted 
earnestness he set forth its claims to the meditation 
of students. Various grammatical disquisitions from 
his pen had already found space in monthly magazines 
and weekly periodicals, but he left his pupils nothing more 
to desire on that branch when his “‘Grammatica’’ was placed 
in their hands.t It is throughout replete with keen and 
useful observations. That part, however, which he devotes 


complete work are found in the hands of many of our brethren, both in 
Italy and Germany. We remember to have seen it in our youth in 
the city of Leghorn. [The complete book of Isaiah, with Italian trans- 
lation and Heberew commentary was published in Padua, 1867. [G]] 

t The copy we possess is defective. It extends only as far as page 
324, but we presume that the work itself has reached its completion. 
[His ‘“‘Grammatica della Lingua Ebraica,’”’ was published at Padua 
in 1853. His ‘Prolegomeni ad una Grammatica Ragionata della 
Lingua Ebraica,’’ Padua, 1836, was translated into English by our 


SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 83 


to the rules of accentuation, cannot fail especially to interest 
those who aim at a perfect reading of the language in which 
our bards and seers uttered their undying messages. 

But the object which seems to have almost engrossed 
the thoughts of Professor Luzzatto, was to afford his schol- 
ars a comprehensive view of Judaism. He would that 
their religious convictions might, like his own, be so 
deeply rooted as to stand proof against the stormy wind of 
the prevailing neologism and scepticism mmm b> ips 
wIpod MX prim Pia Mann mya ~qxow7 mms) odyay, 
To effect this pious design, he composed his ‘‘Teologia 
Morale,’’? a work divided into two hundred lessons, wherein 
he lucidly exhibits the high principles enunciated both in 
Biblical and Talmudical writings. The following paragraph 
quoted from the preface will reveal the mind of the author: 
“Tf in all matters entrusted to my tuition, I have always 
deemed it a duty to endeavor strenuously that my instruc- 
tion should suit the degree of culture already attained by 
the pupils and the important station that they will occupy 
in society, when I was about preparing a course of moral 
theology, I felt that the obligation was a still more holy one. 
My soul was deeply impressed with the imperative necessity 
of supplying the minds of the future teachers and shepherds 
of Israel with clear and just ideas of the morality of Judaism, 
so that they might, in due time, impart in its own purity that 
religion which, when drawn from its primary sources, to 
wit, the holy scripture and tradition, is eminently social and 
promotive of the most healthful state of civilization.’ 

Now it might be reasonably supposed that he, to whose 
author, and published in the Fifth Biennial Report of the Jewish The- 
ological Seminary, New York, 1896. [G]] 

t Aboth III.22. ‘‘Even if all the winds in the world come and blow 
upon it, it cannot be stirred from its place’. [G] 

2 “Lezioni di Teologia Morale Israelitica’’, Padua, 1862. Another 
volume entitled ‘‘ Lezioni di Teologia Dogmatica Israelitica’’ appeared 
in Trieste, in 1864. [G] 

3 This work of 135 pages, octavo, has been translated from the 
Italian by ourself, and we trust to be able at some future day to offer it to 


the public. [Our author’s translation of this work was published serially 
in the Juwish Index, during 1872. [G]] 


84 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


abilities the preparing of Jewish youths for the ministry 
was committed, would consider his attending to that task 
sufficiently onerous; but Samuel David Luzzatto was in- 
defatigable. The vigor of his gigantic mind lent additional 
strength to his bodily frame. He would not suffer aught 
to prevent the accomplishing of his self-imposed obligation. 
To improve his brethren, to disclose the transcendent charm 
of their literature, he eagerly seized every moment he could 
spare from his high calling. A testimony thereof we possess 
in his 12 amMs8& (Oheb Ger), a volume which issued from the 
press the year following his election to the professorship at 
the Rabbinical College.t The deepest research charac- 
terises that production. Had he written but that, he 
would justly have challenged the commendation of the 
learned; for, in developing the system adopted by Onkelos, 
in his Chaldaic version of the Pentateuch, he casts a flood 
of light on other topics of literary importance. That which 
more particularly struck us was a critical discussion of 
the difference existing between the Israelites of Spanish 
and of German descent, in their pronunciation of the 
Hebrew. It had been positively asserted by grammarians 
of both schools, that an habitual disregard of settled rules 
had engendered defects in the pronunciation of our brethren 
of Northern Europe, which could not be eradicated; but 
the keen intellect of our Luzzatto traced the difference to a 
purer source. He discovered a strong resemblance between 
the pronunciation of the Ashkenazim and that of the Syriac 
tongue, as spoken in the western part of Asia, and arrived 
at the conclusion that our fathers’ long intercourse with the 
Gentiles inhabiting Palestine had given origin to the dif- 
ference. The Sephardic pronunciation, on the other hand, 
in some respects, resembles more closelv that of the Syrians 
who had taken up their abode in Babylon and its vicinity.? 


t It bears an earlier date, but we gather from.its contents that it 
was perfected only after his arrival at Padua. [First appeared in 
Vienna, 1830. A second revised edition was issued by Isaac Graeber 
in Cracow, 1895. [G]] 

2 See pages 92, 94, and 95 of the same work. 


SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 85 


The celebrity of our author gave his erudite explanation im- 
mense weight, and we saw it of late adduced in defence of 
the manner in which the ritual is rehearsed in German and 
Polish Synagogues. Nevertheless, we apprehend that the 
question may be open for discussion. 

Knowing that the Syrians of both parts of Asia agree 
in many points touching the pronunciation of their language, 
it might be asked: How did it happen that some among our 
ancestors shaped the Hebrew after it only in a minor degree, 
and others followed it entirely as a standard? We leave 
the solution of this query to more competent scholars. We 
stated it because our perusal of the 12 37s suggested it to 
our mind. I[t would, indeed, afford us ineffable satisfaction 
to see an early and definite settlement of a difficulty which 
the renowned Luzzatto only began to remove. Alas! that 
very few in this material age emulate his perseverance and 
unwearied zeal in the pursuit of learning! Some, whose 
natural talents would have qualified them as our national 
teachers, pandering to the crotchets of the worldly, exercise 
their intellect to the detriment of Jewish interests. Verily, 
when we contemplate the ever growing apathy with respect 
to sacred literature, we may well lament the loss of a man 
who was wholly devoted to its culture; for he omitted no 
occasion by which he could enhance the value of our precious 
heirloom. He dived into the ocean of time and drew forth 
sparkling jewels. How must the immortal bard of Andalusia 
have rejoiced when his sublime inspiration thrilled again 
devout hearts! For centuries his poems had been buried in 
oblivion. At length the hand of one that loved the poet 
fondly, brought them to the bright light of day. A traveler 
who was wont to go in quest of rare books, found, in the 
city of Tunis, many unedited poems of R. Judah Halevi. 
He reported the circumstance to the illustrious scholar at 
Padua, and was requested by him to spare neither efforts 
nor gold to effect a purchase. He met with success, 
and the literary world was enriched with a volume, in read- 
ing which we know not which to admire more, whether the 
flight of an ardent imagination, or the pathos of a sensitive 


86 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


soul. The m7 na nbina edited and published by S. D. 
Luzzatto,? is a reflection of that deep sentiment of re- 
ligion which impelled the poet at an advanced age to 
abandon the country of his birth, his early associations, 
his pupils, and his friends, that he might bedew with his 
tears the ruins of the Temple. We see him depart. We 
follow him through the delightsome plains of Cordova and 
Granada. We hear his pensive strains as a propitious wind 
wafts him nearer to his longed-for Zion. We stand breath- 
less at his description of a rising tempest, and pour forth 
thanks with him when he safely reaches Alexandria, visits 
Damietta, and crosses the Nile to survey the land wherein 
the outstretched arm of the Lord wrought wonders. Luzzatto 
arranged with care the forty-four cantos and three letters 
brought to light in this most attractive work. He elucidated 
obscure passages by numerous annotations, and wrote a pre- 
face fraught with erudite remarks regarding the antiquity 
of certain Synagogal hymns, and about the difference in 
their wording. onon ns) oyn7 ns yon ary x> aes »> sw FIA. 
“Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not forsaken his 
kindness, both towards the living and towards the dead.’’? 

We cannot quit the subject in which we are engaged, 
without referring once more to the greatest poet of Israel 
since the closing of the sacred Canon. It is the general 
belief that R. Judah Halevi met with a tragic end. The 
author of mbapn_nbwbw relates that, as he entered the gates 
of Jerusalem, he rent his garments, and while kneeling on 
the ground and reciting his famous elegy on Zion, a 
Mussulman on horseback rode over his body and left him 
dead. Professor Luzzatto calls this narrative a fabrication. 
We translate his words: ‘It is all a palpable falsehood; 
for in the time of R. Judah Halevi, Saracens were not 
permitted to remain in Jerusalem, the city then being under 
the rule of the Crusaders. Even if we admit that one might 
by chance be there, it is not to be believed that he would 

t First appeared at Praguein 1840. A second edition was published 


later at Lyck in 1864. [G] 
2 Ruth ii.20. [G] 


SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 87 


dare, in sight of the conquerors of Palestine, to trample a 
stranger under foot. So, likewise, it is very improbable 
that the poet would then rehearse an elegy he composed 
in Spain, and in which this sentence occurs: ‘Oh! that I had 
wings, that I might fly afar off, and lay my broken heart up- 
on thy ruins.’ Besides, who does not know, that the poetical 
vein of the Andalusian Rabbi was an inexhaustible fountain, 
and an overflowing river? He certainly had no need of 
repeating a lamentation written in the style of one who lives 
at a distance, when his genius would have readily inspired 
him with a new one as he stood on sacred soil. But I am 
of opinion that his cherished wish was never realized. 
From Cairo he set off to traverse the desert of Egypt, and 
while there some mishap befell him.’’! 

We trust that this slight disgression may be pardoned 
by reason of the sentiments of profound love and veneration 
that the name of Judah Halevi evokes. We will now resume. 

In the city of Gorizia, a Jewish youth of great talents 
and sterling virtues,? celebrated his marriage in the month 
of December, 1851. On such occasions epithalamiumsare 
usually presented by friends. The professor at Padua, how- 
ever, who knew that science was the groom’s chief delight, 
instead of offering a nuptial song, dedicated to him a volume 
of scientific researches, ‘‘A Dialogue on the Kabbala and the 
Zohar, and on the Antiquity of the Punctuation and Ac- 
centuation in the Hebrew Language.’’ None among the 
numerous productions of Luzzatto created the stir which the 
appearance of such a work caused among the learned of 
Israel; for it deals a deadly blow to doctrines and practices 
which adverse circumstances have blended with Judaism 
and time has hallowed. Would it not then have been pru- 
dent at least to forbear giving it publication?...No! truth 
may be suppressed when by proclaiming it some injury 
would be entailed either upon individuals or society; but we 


x atm na ndina pages 25 and 26. Professor Munk, of Paris, in 
his ‘‘ Palestine’ agrees that the end of Judah Halevi is unknown, and 
throws doubts on the authenticity of the story as reported. 

2 Graziado I. Ascoli, see p. 182 [G] 


88 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


should never be deterred from boldly giving utterance to it 
when falsehood strives to gain supremacy. Kabbalism and 
Judaism are antagonistic to each other; for the latter leads 
the mind to the Supreme Source of goodness through the 
inculcation of social virtues; the former, on the contrary, 
demands of its votaries a total abstraction from the world, 
an ascetic life that withdraws man from his fellow-creatures. 
So long as its theories remained in abeyance, they might 
have continued unopposed; but when Hasidism, with its 
blighting effects, gained followers among a portion of our 
brethren, it became necessary to hold its errors up to view; 
not by inveighing against the tenets it preaches, but by 
subjecting them to a critical examination. The cause of 
religion would then triumph, and bigotry hide its face. 
Precisely this was done by S. D. Luzzatto. The ponderous 
weight of his historical, Talmudical, and exegetical knowledge 
crushed to the earth Kabbalism and Hasidism, its spurious 
offspring.t We have been told that a warm contest arose, and 
several pamphlets were issued to rebut the arguments of 
the Italian savant. Rabbi Elias Benamozegh, of Leg- 
horn, a man well known in literary circles, arose to the de- 
fense of the Zohar, and with uncommon vigor wielded the 
weapon; but his 7w> oyy, very kindly sent to us, did not 
come to hand, and we only judge by report. Wewere shown 
some extracts from a refutation by N. N. Coronel, of Jeru- 
salem, but too meagre to form an opinion. This, however, 
we do assert, that Luzzatto seldom entered the lists without 
coming forth victorious. 

Not that he gloried in his achievements, but he rejoiced 
in the consciousness of having labored for a noble end. 
Yes, to enlighten Israel and sanctify the Lord had been his 
early vow, and he fulfilled it to the last. He laid upon the 
altar of his religion man’s most precious offering, his life- 
time and his faculties. Sixty-five years was his portion on 
earth, fifty he spent in seeking the favor of his God and 
Maker. His domestic afflictions had been severe, but they 


t The 071) 48 of Leon de Modena has the same tendency, but fol- 
lows a different course of reasoning, and it is arranged in a different form. 


SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 89 


did not dampen his ardor. His means were scanty, but 
this did not deter him from contributing towards extending 
the domains of science and theology; and, notwithstanding 
his superior abilities and almost universal fame, humility 
and simplicity of heart distinguished our Luzzatto in all 
his daily walks; so have they declared who enjoyed his 
personal acquaintance. That happiness has been denied 
tous. We preserve an answer to a letter we once addressed 
to him, but we never pressed the hand that wrote it. 
We owe him a debt of infinite gratitude; for his writings 
have been to us a guide and a delight. How shall we repay 
it? We will ever bear his name on our lips with profound 
reverence, and thus lament his death. 
MAT POD POS VS NSAM Wa Tryp or Pans 


LuzzaTTo‘'s PostHumMous WorKs.* 


In a letter which I have recently received, Dr. Isaiah 
Luzzatto announces the publication of posthumous works 
of his learned father. He hints at the idea that through 
my instrumentality American Israelites, but especially 
teachers at our schools and preachers in our pulpits, may 
benefit by the researches of the late professor at Padua. 
Wishing to carry out that idea, I make free with your 
columns, kindly open to me, time and again, without stint. 

Foremost among the writings alluded to in that com- 
munication, is a new translation of the Bible, in Italian. 
My colleagues, who know how effectively the renowned 
savant labored in the field of scriptural exegesis, need not 
be shown the advantage which sacred literature will derive 
from such a translation. They believe, like myself, that 
the offspring of a mind far-reaching in its investigations, of 
an intellect keen, vigorous, and original in its conception, 
will cast a flood of light on many sentences hitherto obscure; 


t This appeal is included here to show the great admiration in which 
our author held S. D. Luzzatto, and the great love which he had for 
all that Luzzatto wrote. It is a human document worthy of preser- 
vation. [G] 


90 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


that countless words, incomprehensible without a thorough 
knowledge of kindred languages, will be explained by it 
in a manner which removes difficulties from the text, and 
reproduces the thought of the inspired author. But if 
evidences of the rate merits which that undertaking must 
possess were requisite, they would be given by an authority 
that no one dares gainsay. Who more than the Germans 
of the present age have dived into the science of hermeneu- 
tics? But who more ready than they to accord to Luzzatto 
a seat most exalted among veritable critics! Scarcely a few 
pages of his comments on Isaiah had issued from the press, 
when two celebrities asked that they might be privileged to 
translate it into German. The request was not complied 
with, but the thought that prompted it suffices to attest 
the sterling merits of whatever Luzzatto’s prolific pen 
yielded. 


For years, persons of culture and religious zeal had 
solicited at the hands of the eminent philologist the 
completion of a work which he had in part performed 
with unrivaled success. ‘‘None’’ wrote Jewish journalists 
in Italy ‘“‘can give us a version of the whole Bible, based 
upon modern research, and free from doctrinal bias, but 
he whose love of truth is as great as his acquaintance 
with the Hebrew and cognate tongues is perfect.”* And 
this sentiment uttered every day more loudly and more 
generally, overcame a strong reluctance to the prosecution 
of the work. Was the hesitancy a presentiment?... 


t Strange as it may appear, the Jews of Italy, abounding in every 
generation with men of learning, never undertook to translate the entire 
Bible in their vernacular. In some Hebrew edition of Holy Writ, there 
would be found in the margin, the meaning of difficult words, but for more 
information than that the student was compelled to have recourse to 
the teacher. In the beginning of the 17th century, John Diodati, a 
distinguished clergyman, who had embraced Protestanism, translated 
with elegance of diction the old Scriptures, the New Testament, and the 
Apocrypha, but all, of course in the interest of the Christian religion. 
Still even that version could be procured with difficulty, for the Catholic 
church that permits only the Vulgate to be used, had placed Diodati’s 
work under the ban. 


SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO 91 


Luzzatto did not live to accomplish the labor so urgently 
imposed upon him. Yet it may in all fairness be said that 
his spirit brought it to completion. 

Before the grave was closed over the remains of the 
venerated teacher, men who had imbibed his lessons—ripe 
scholars filling rabbinical chairs in various cities—vowed 
to honor the memory of the illustrious departed and bene- 
fit his bereaved family. To finish what would have been 
his crowning work, they resolved to devote their time and 
best talents gratutiously. And now the result is seen in a 
book, which must remain as one of the brightest monu- 
ments of human learning. The student will consult it, 
and many of his doubts will vanish; the erudite scholar 
will read it with the satisfaction which proceeds from dis- 
covering that nothing was accepted without scrupulous 
research, that every sentence had been placed in the 
crucible of unsparing criticism. 

English-speaking Israelites in America have been sup- 
plied with a translation of the Bible by a co-religionist? who 
worked for them long and faithfully, but our ministers 
throughout the country and our rising colleges, ought to 
enrich their libraries with a copy of the production of a 
mind, acknowledged as an authority on exegetical science. 
And I beg to make The Record the vehicle through which 
to convey the announcement that the Luzzato family at 
Padua, would rejoice to disseminate among their trans- 
Atlantic brethren the writings of the renowned departed. 

Perhaps more acceptable—because more readily un- 
derstood—than Luzzatto’s Italian will be to the Hebraists 
in this country, the comment he left on the Five Books of 
Moses, and which is in course of publication. The 
Mishtaddel, added by special request to the second edition 
of Mendelssohn’s Pentateuch—as a mere outline—fore- 
shadows the completed work. True, there is no lack of com- 
mentaries to the Law. From the days that the wonderfully 
erudite Talmudist of France—deservedly called the chief 
of expositors—began to write, men have tried their abilities 


Isaac Leeser [G] 


92 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


in explaining the Torah from different standpoints. Some 
would present the literal meaning, others would put on it 
a figurative sense, and while many employed the text to 
moralize, not a few used it to indulge in philosophical 
disquisitions. Reggio has reckoned 148 commentaries, 
some printed and some inedited, and since he made that 
enumeration, new ones, besides his own, have been pro- 
duced. In 1862, Elias Benamozegh issued a comment into 
which an immense deal that has a bearing on the Mosaic 
writings, whether among ancient sciences or modern inves- 
tigations, may be said to have been drawn as into a focus. 
And were it not that the author’s ardent advocacy of Kab- 
balism gives that product of his pen, like all his compositions, 
a coloring undisguisedly fictitious, the breadth and depth 
of learning, and the remarkable fluency of style which that 
work reveals, would entitle it to a prominent rank. 

But without detracting from the merits of any ofi our 
Hebrew commentaries, we may be warranted in anticipat- 
ing from Luzzatto’s dispassionate judgment and versatile 
genius a labor unique in its character. That, together with 
some poems still in manuscript, but which the oldest son 
and family of the deceased are engaged in bringing to light, 
I would recommend to my colleagues. I believe that my 
success in procuring purchasers to the works herein men- 
tioned, will have promoted the cause of sacred literature, 
and practically shown the reverence in which I hold amost 
distinguished son of our race. 


A CRITICAL AND HERMENEUTICAL INTRO- 
DUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 


By PROFEsSOR SAMUEL Davip LUZZATTO. 


Translated from the Italian 


[Some time ago I made use of the columns of the Jewish Record, 
with the view of inducing my colleagues to purchase inedited works of 
the late Professor at Padua. In response to my call, a few among the 
lovers of Jewish literature in this country agreed to buy his Hebrew 
comment onthe Pentateuch. This, however, hasan Italian translation 
on the opposite side of the text, and it contains, moreover, in the same 
language, an exegetical essay, intended originally as a preliminary 
instruction to the critical study of the five books of Moses, pursued at 
the Padua college. I think it due to those who have bespoken the 
work aforenamed, and who are not conversant with the Italian, that I 
should supply them, at least, with an English version of the essay, since 
it would be impossible, and not quite as necessary, to undertake the 
rendition into our vernacular tongue of the Italian translation of the 
text itself. 

Will you permit me to let The Record be the means of offering this 
voluntary labor of mine to the subscribers to one of Luzzatto’s pos- 
thumous writings? I can assure your readers that the subject treated 
is well deserving of the attention not only of Hebraists, but of all our 
brethren who feel interested in the history of their Holy Law and re- 
ligion. 

A few prefatory sentences, as well as several expressions, in the course 
of this writing, addressed by the Professor to his students, have been 
omitted. Hebrew quotations, have also, so far as practicable, been 
translated into English, to lessen typographical labor, and enable the 
largest number of readers to understand the contents. ] 


In every age, the belief that the Pentateuch could claim 
altogether as its author and compiler the Arch-Prophet, was 
universal. The last chapter of Deuteronomy formed an 
exception, because, as it tells of the death of the writer, the 
sages of the Talmud themselves raised the question, whether 
itshould be attributed to Moses, or not rather to Joshua. We 
read. in Baba Batra, p. 15: “Can it be possible that Moses, 
having departed this life, wrote this: ‘Moses, the servant 


94 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


of the Lord, died’? No; the Seer recorded as far as the 
preceding verse, the rest must have been added by Joshua.”’ 


Against a universal and firm belief among Jews and 
Christians, and we may even include heathens, Father 
Richard Simon! set himself up a century and a half ago. 


He asserted, in his critical history of the Old Testa- 
ment, that, in fact, Moses is the author of only such por- 
tions of the Pentateuch as belong to Divine institutions and 
ordinances, that whatever relates to history has been set 
forth by persons whom he calls ‘‘Scribes,’’ or public writers, 
known also by the title of prophets; persons who were, in 
fact, nothing else, according to his hypothesis, than officers 
charged by the authorities to act in the capacity of historio- 
graphers. 

That such a position has no ground to stand on, will 
become very obvious when we look to the simple fact that the 
preceptive, or legal parts, and the historical passages, are 
never disjoined in the Pentateuch, nor in the least manner 
distinct from one another,—a circumstance which could not 
possibly have happened if various authors had recorded 
various events. We perceive, on the contrary, that in 
almost every page of the sacred code, Divine commands flow 
from narratives, with which they are inseparably connected 
and naturally interwoven. Thus, for instance, the civil 
law about inheritance, chronicled in Numbers, Chap. 27, 
is contained in eleven sentences, five of which are a com- 
plaint of the daughters of Zelophehad, properly pertaining 
to the historical part, while the six which follow constitute 
the preceptive part. But thelaw, beginning with the words, 
‘the daughters of Zelophehad speak rightly,’ refers so very 
plainly to a piece of history, that our giving credence to 


* Richard Simon (1683-1721) was a French scholar and orientalist 
who wrote the first extensive critical introduction to the Bible. His 
“Histoire Critique du Vieux Testament’’ (1678) aroused the ire of the 
Church, through whose influence the first edition of 1300 copies was 
seized and destroyed. Other editions of the book later appeared in 
Holland. Simon is the author of several other books and pamphlets in 
which he defends his views. (Jew. Ency., s. v.) [G] 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 95 


the theory that Moses wrote only the legal portion of the 
sacred text and not the historical, would be a voluntary 
surrender of our common sense. So, again, the criminal 
laws concerning homicide, as registered in Leviticus, xxiv, 
are thoroughly intermingled with the incident relative 
to the misdeed of the blasphemer. The passage commences 
with these words, ‘‘ Bring forth him that cursed,”’ and then 
proceeds to define the laws of murder, or the infliction of 
severe injuries, and so forth. 

It would be useless for me to descant further to show 
that in the divine code ordinances and narratives form 
an inseparable whole, and that they would have been pre- 
sented in an entirely different garb, if the legal portion 
had had an origin distinct from the historical. Still, I will 
add three more remarks upon this score. The first is, that 
the book of Joshua furnishes some clear information res- 
pecting the contents of “the book of the law of God”’ as 
far back as the days very near those in which Moses lived, 
thus proving that it did not hold merely a set of rules, but 
also a vast deal belonging to history. When Joshua was 
about to leave the world, he received from the tribes, as a 
result of his paternal admonition, the promise that they 
would remain ever faithful to the worship of the true God. 

We see that on the same occasion the worthy pupil and 
successor of Moses put down the solemn declaration which 
our ancestors made in the Pentateuch. We read “Joshua 
wrote these things in the book of the law of God.” He 
certainly would never have thought of subjoining the epi- 
sode to the end of the Mosaic volumes, if these had held 
nothing but mere ordinances, and did not embody, as they 
do now, and as they truly always did embody, a variety of 
records, touching the most important of our national events. 

The second remark is, that the ancients among our 
people, cherishing the highest sense of veneration for the 
Arch-prophet, would on no account have tolerated that 
narratives traced by other hands than his own, be incor- 
porated into the Divine laws which they had received 
through his agency. If Joshua allowed himself to insert in 


96 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


the sacred code the above-named admonition and the as- 
surance of fidelity obtained, he did not place them in the 
body of the inspired volumes, but simply at the end there- 
of; as was done with the narrative of the death of Moses, 
conformably to the opinion of some Talmudical sages, who 
ascribe its authorship to Joshua. Clearly it is one thing, 
after the conclusion of a book, to speak of the decease of 
its writer—a circumstance which can never mislead nor 
create misgivings—and it is another thing to engraft, as it 
were, on the body of the work itself, whole accounts by way 
of interlineation or otherwise. 


My third remark has reference to the hypothesis that 
Scribes were clothed by the authorities with the office of 
historiographers; and I purpose to show that it lacks the 
slightest support from any part of the holy volume called 
the Pentateuch. After the defeat of Amalek, God said to 
Moses, “‘ Write this as a record in the book.’’(Exodus xvii. 
14).2, The Lord does not ask him to confide the task to any 
one else. Besides, I ask, would that trusty minister, 
Joshua—so very jealous of his master’s authority, that, 
at the slightest fear of the impairment of its supremacy, he 
cried out (against Eldad and Medad), “Moses, my lord, 
forbid them,’’ (Numbers xi, 28)—would that trusty minister, 
I say, have suffered any mortal to write not only the history 
of his master’s life and marvellous deeds, but also that of the 
creation and of the flood, which presupposes the possession 


t IT suppose that Luzzatto means to convey this idea. As the book 
of Joshua had not yet been compiled, the leader of the tribes, anxious to 
preserve the memory of the last act of his administration—so instructive 
to posterity—gave it himself temporarily a place in the Pentateuch as 
an appendix. (Translator). 

2 Luzzatto seems doubtful about the precise meaning of the unusual 
expression following immediately the above... .‘‘and put it in the ears 
of Joshua”’ (lit.). In his Italian translation he renders it ‘‘Call to it 
Joshua’s special attention,’”’ but in his Hebrew commentary, after hav- 
ing quoted several opinions, he says, ‘‘It appears to me that the phrase 
implies the dictating of the events to Joshua, while the latter acted the 
honorable part of Secretary, likely in recognition of his military services. 
(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 97 


of an inspired mind? Would he not have repeated against 
such historiographers, his exclamation: ‘‘ Moses, my lord, 
forbid them?” And further: could these historians trans- 
mit many events with a detailed precision, and yet forget to 
chronicle the puklic act—needfully performed in a very 
solemn manner—the act which clothed them with the 
office of authentic and heaven-gifted scribes of the nation? 
I have dwelt too long on the refutation of a hypothesis 
which cannot be sustained in any shape or form. 


I will not, however, let pass unnoticed, a matter which 
the critic brings forth as a strong support to his position. 
He finds that the sacred text, speaking of Moses, invariably 
makes use of the third person, and not of the first. He does 
not know—for knowing it, he should not hide it—that the 
example of Julius Caesar and Josephus' overthrows his 
argument. But in connection with this very same mode 
of reasoning, I shall offer an observation, which will reduce 
the hypothesis of our critic to a perfect absurdity, because 
self-contradictory. Now: it is not only in the historical 
part—fancied to have been written by Scribes—that the 
sacred text uses the third person, when alluding to the Arch- 
prophet, but also in the preceptive part, where we constantly 
meet with the expression, ‘‘The Lord spoke unto Moses, as 
follows.’’ If then this manner of speaking proves nothing 
in the legal portion of the Scriptures, nothing antagonistic 
to the common, nay, universal, belief that Moses was the 
inspired compiler of the Pentateuch, it proves absolutely 
nothing against it in the historical portion thereof. 


Our critic is again at fault when he points to the seem- 
ing want of order in some of the narratives of the Pentateuch 
as carrying out his hypothesis. This argument, like the 
preceding, belongs to that mode of reasoning that, aiming 
to prove too much, proves nothing. If want of order in 
the narratives of the sacred code is a reality, then those nar- 


« See Julius Caesar’s ‘“Commentaries,’’ and Josephus’ ‘Wars of the 
Jews’’ in which the writers recount in the third person events where 
they played the most important part. (Translator). 


98 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


ratives could not have been chronicled by authorized beings 
writing under an inspired influence, surely not by wise 
“Scribes.’’ It follows, that the lack of a proper arrange- 
ment pointed at is only apparent, and it is just as willed by 
the Lord. It follows, again, that the n¢rratives may have 
been—as they actually were—put down by the heaven- 
directed hand of the Arch-prophet, and placed by. him to- 
gether with the legal or preceptive parts. 


Equally unhappy in his choice of arguments is the 
author of whom we speak, when he brings forth a few 
verses, on which some ancient commentators among our 
people have looked with a suspicious eye, as interpolations 
(which verses will engage our attention hereafter) for 
the very reason that he who contends that several 
lines, in any book whatever, have been interpolated, gives 
inferentially his support to the authenticity of the bulk 
of the work. Nor can it be asserted that in a volume, as- 
sumed to have issued from various and uncertain writers— 
as our critic, with little judgment, claims the sacred code 
to have come into existence—scattered sentences have been 
surreptitiously introduced.? 


But more clashing with accepted notions than even the 
hypothesis controverted in preceding paragraphs, is an ex- 
ceedingly heterodox opinion, advanced by some of the most 
learned Orientalists among the Protestant theologians of 
Germany. It is needful to guard against the impression 
which the perusal of works flowing, confessedly from deep 
scholarship and, apparently, far-reaching reflection, may 
create. I deem it a duty to lend others the arms which 
my mental efforts have supplied me with, to defend the 
good cause. 


Well, several of the modern linguists allege that his- 
tory does not present a single instance in which a language 


* Luzzatto means, I conceive, that interpolations can only be said 
to exist, in a writing, the author of which is generally acknowledged 
but not in a mere compilation, where a number of unknown hands have 
been at work. (Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 99 


could continue during the space of fully a thousand years, so 
uniformly alike, as we see the Hebrew language to have 
remained from the first to the last writer of the sacred 
Canon; from Moses to Nehemiah, two personages living 
at the distance of a thousand years. From the pretended 
impossibility of a uniformity of such duration in the 
language, they have dared to infer that the Pentateuch 
could not have been written until ages after the time of Moses, 
that is, in the days of David, or even later. The reason- 
ing is specious and seductive, for such an instance is really 
extraordinary. The languages known do not, in fact, offer 
a similar example. But when we go back and look for 
the causes, we will find that the alterations which ages work 
in a language are not made principally by the running stream 
of time, but by outside influences that foreign nations, 
whether inimical or friendly, bring to bear on it. 


An inimical race will alter the language of the nation 
conquered, as Northern peoples altered the Latin tongue and 
gave rise to modern European languages; while friendly 
nations will occasion changes in their respective languages, 
by the mutual exchange of learning, customs, habits; and, as 
a result thereof, also of their mode of speaking, and even 
of single words.* It is thus that in our own days the Italian, 
the French, the English and the German, continually inter- 
change terms and phrases, each lending, and again, in 
turn receiving, by reason of the very state of amicable in- 
tercourse that exists. 


Now, little as one may have considered the political 
condition of our people, when settled in Palestine, he cannot 


t The implication is, that the Hebrew in the time of Moses must 
have differed materially from the Hebrew in the days of the Monarchy, 
as, by way of illustration, the English of Chaucer differs from that of 
Tennyson. But as a diversity so strikingly remarkable, cannot be 
traced between the diction of the Arch-prophet and that of the royal 
Psalmist, the Pentateuch must have emanated from some clever pen in 
the palmy days of the language. So would modern critics make us 
believe. The reader may also find sensibly written remarks on this topic, 
in Munk’s “‘Palestine,”’ (Translator), 


100 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


have failed to perceive that during the whole of that period 
we had no intercourse, or almost none, with those 
whose vernacular tongue was not the Hebrew. Inimical 
invasions and conquests made, had relation only to the 
various populations of Canaan and its vicinity; populations 
that spoke the same Hebrew language, called by Isaiah 
himself ‘“‘the language of Canaan’’ (Isaiah xix, 18). No 
other language but the Hebrew was used by the Phoenicians, 
that is, the people of Tyre and Sidon, whose every record 
unearthed may be readily interpreted by means of a know- 
ledge of Hebrew. Social and commercial transactions were 
rare with neighboring peoples, and extremely rare with dis- 
tant ones. Hence the influence of strange nations could not 
produce any modification or alteration in the Hebrew ton- 
gue. But we, indeed, perceive that no sooner had a people 
from a rather far off country, speaking a different language 
intervened; no sooner, I say, had the Babylonian invasion of 
Judea taken place, than the Hebrew began to lose its purity, 
and to adopt a quantity of Chaldaisms, from which it never 
freed itself. Until that happened, the people of God, keep- 
ing purposely aloof, because of its theocratic constitution, 
from idolatrous nations and not having suffered from the in- 
roads of a horde of tribes that hailed from remote lands, 
and spoke diverse tongues—could, without our being 
surprised at the circumstance, retain its own language 
intact. Let then the truth prevail, and let this be acknow- 
ledged as a firmly settled fact; the sacred volumes of the 
Pentateuch belong altogether—as the ancients always be- 
lieved—to the Arch-prophet Moses. 


There remains now for us to speak of the genuineness 
of the same holy book in its entirety. This part of our 
introduction will be the longest, but that which affords the 
greatest instruction, while it is the most delightful. The 
absurd charge brought against our people in the early days 
of Christianity by some of its followers, as for instance by 
Justin the Martyr, and by Irenaeus, and afterwards, in 
later times, by men of our own faith, who lapsed into that 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 101 


new belief, as Nicholas de Lyra? and Paul Burgenses,?—the 
preposterous charge that Holy Writ has been maliciously 
mutilated and disfigured by us from hatred against the 
new religion—is taken by all critics for what it is worth; 
namely, for an accusation destitute of a shadow of reason; 
nay, absolutely repugnant and antagonistic to sound reason. 
It would, therefore, be useless to rebut it. But a glaring 
falsehood, insisted upon by Father John Morino3 in his 
Bible Exercises, must be alluded to. 

In chapter 6 of the first Exercise, he tries, with a rich- 
ness of misdirected Rabbinical erudition, to give currency 
to the belief that the authority of the ancient Sanhedrin and 
of the Babylonian Academies was so great among our co- 
religionists, that if the Sages wished it, they could, without 
the least obstacle, have foisted any alteration into the 
sacred text, and have led the bulk of the nation submissively 
and blindly to adopt it. 

To become convinced of the groundlessness of that 


t Nicholas de Lyra, a famous French exegete (1270-1340), is sup- 
posed to have been of Jewish descent. In his exegetical works, he fol- 
lowed Rashi faithfully and adhered closely to the literal sense of the text. 
(ib. s. v.) [G] 

2 Paul de Burgos or Paul de Santa Maria (1351-1435), whose 
Jewish name was Solomon ha-Levi, was a very wealthy and learned Jew, 
who became converted to Christianity and subsequently became 
Archbishop in Spain. Although he kept in touch with Rabbinic learn- 
ing even after he became baptised, and was in correspondence with a 
number of Jewish scholars, he was a bitter enemy of Judaism and wrote 
several works against the Jews. His ‘‘Additiones’’, consisting of ad- 
ditions to Nicholas de Lyra’s comments on the Bible, have frequently 
been reprinted (ib. s. v.) [G] 

3 Jean Morin or Joannes Morinus (1591-1695), was a convert from 
Protestantism to Catholicism and devoted himself mainly to Biblical 
studies, which are often colored by his Catholic prejudices. He edited 
the Samaritan Pentateuch and Targum and regarded these as more correct 
than the original Hebrew. The exaggerated depreciation of the Hebrew 
text is also evident in his greatest work, published posthumously, ‘ Exer- 
citationes Biblicae”’ (1660), in which he brings his great learning and 
tremendous industry in support of his theory against the integrity 
of the Hebrew text and the antiquity of the vowel points. (Ency- 
clopedia Britannica, s. v. Morin). [G] 


102 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


assertion it will be enough to refer to the Mishnah 
treatise Horayot. In that volume will be seen the exact 
limits within which the very same sages of the Mishnah 
and Talmud bound the authority of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. 
They made thisarule. If the strange incident should arise 
that a Sanhedrin commanded the entire abrogation of any 
precept whatsoever of the Divine Law, that Sanhedrin 
would not be bound to bring the sin-offering required in the 
case of the whole nation knowingly committing an error.* 
Each individual, who had sinned by following the decision 
of the highest tribunal, would then be obliged to bring a 
sacrifice as an atonement for his offence, because each in- 
dividual did offend, when he set aside the heavenly authority 
for the human. The Sanhedrin could be obliged to bring 
a sin-offering only if they fell into a mistake about a 
subject disputed by the Sadducees;? but if it concerned a 


t In Leviticus (IV.13) we read, ‘‘if the whole assembly of Israel sin, 
through ignorance, so that a thing remains unknown to the con- 
gregation, and they do one of the things prohibited by the Lord, 
which ought not to be done, and commit a trespass....then shall the 
assembly offer a young bullock for a sin-offering”’ etc. Tradition tells 
that the case here contemplated is that in which the people have trans- 
gressed through an error of their representatives, viz., the assembly— 
or Sanhedrin—a tradition which sound reason supports; for, how could 
a whole community have acted in a certain case, contrary to the laws, 
unless led astray by a legal misconstruction of the rules. (Translator). 

2 For the information of general readers, I will say, that the Sad- 
ducees were a Jewish sect, that arose about three centuries before the 
vulgar era, but became extinct long ago as a body. A tradition tells 
this: The teachings of Antigonus, president of the Sanhedrin, and succes- 
sor of the renowned Simeon the Just, did not please some Israelites who 
made material enjoyment the aim and scope of life. That sage recom- 
mended adherence to religion for principle’s sake and not with the object 
of being rewarded. (Abot I. 3; Abot d’R. Nathan V). Two of his 
hearers, Zadok and Boethus, noted in those days for their fondness of 
luxury and worldly gratifications, understood by that teaching that 
virtue practiced here needs not expect a recompense hereafter; so that 
they undertook to preach a doctrine subversive of the belief in 
immortality, and totally worldy in its tendencies. Its followers assumed 
the name of Sadducees, from ‘Zadok’ the principal, founder ‘of the sect. 
This sect grew to be powerful, at intervals, during the existence of the 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 103 


law so clearly expressed in the sacred code that those 
schismatics themselves had accepted it, the authority 
of the Supreme Court would be worthless and its res- 
ponsibility az. Why? Because everybody is able to as- 
certain what is right, by reading the plain text. The Tal- 
mudists add: the querist sinned, when, without any occa- 
sion, he asked for men’s decision, concerning what God’s 
word had already decided. 


Now, if the sentence of so authoritative a body as 
the Sanhedrin had not the slightest validity, when 
clashing with the plain text of the sacred code, it must be 
false and absurd to contend that the same Sanhedrin could, 
at pleasure, alter the wording of Holy Writ. We have 
dwelt sufficiently long upon this subject. 


An opinion held by some modern theologians, among our 
fellow-believers, claims our attention more than that 
just rebutted. Attaching to the title ‘‘Sopher’’, which 
Ezra bore, an unwarranted meaning, it has been assumed 
that he who was distinguished by that epithet, became the 
restorer, the reviser, the reformer of Holy Writ. This 
opinion is, not less than the preceding, untenable and 
senseless; inasmuch as it would accord to a single man an 
extent of power, which the highest tribunal in the nation 
never possessed. 


second Temple. When, by a turn of the political wheel, one of these 
schismatics happened to be invested with sacerdotal functions, he would 
not act according to the traditional imparting, but in open antagonism 
to it. Thus, for instance, on the Day of Atonement he would enter 
into the Holy of Holies, with a censer already smoking, while the ad- 
herents of tradition would fill the censer with live coals from the inner 
altar, and then place therein the aromatic spices before passing the 
sacred veil.—(Translator). [The origin and principles of the Sadducees 
have been the subject of investigation and study on the part of many 
modern Jewish and Christian scholars. Geiger, Graetz, Welhausen, 
Schurer, and many others have written extensively on the subject 
and Schechter’s publication of documents supposed to contain some of 
the laws of this ancient sect (‘‘Documents of Jewish Sectaries.” 2 
vols, Cambridge, 1910) again precipitated a controversy on this most 
interesting and obscure chapter of Jewish history. [G]] 


104 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Now, respecting the term ‘‘Sopher’’—which forms the 
groundwork of that opinion—it would seem, originally, to 
be the participial noun of the verb “Saphar,’’ to reckon, 
and to signify a computist, an accountant, an auditor. 
For instance, we read in ii Kings xii, 11.: ‘‘When they 
saw that there was enough money in the chest, then the 
royal Sopher and the high priest came and put it in bags 
and counted the money found in the house of the Lord.” 
And again in xxv, 19: “‘He (Nebuzaradan) took the 
Sopher, chief of the army, who mustered the people of the 
land’’; two cases where the term evidently carries out the 
sense we gave it. The noun “Sepher”’ book, or writing, 
would appear to have also drawn its origin from the idea 
of keeping an account or a register for business purposes; 
as one of the main objects in the art of writing must have 
been, of course, to record transactions. Even in our own 
day, we say “book-keeping,’”’ in the sense of making a 
register of money matters. And in like manner as the 
primitive meaning of the word ‘“‘Sepher’’ was extended 
to denote any kind of writing, and any literary and 
scientific work, so the participial noun “Sopher”? came 
to express a student, a man whose mind is occupied with 
books. Thus in i Chronicles, xxvii 32, ‘‘Jonathan, an 
uncle of David, wasa counsellor, and a man of understanding 
and a Sopher,’’ namely, a person well read. It is in this 
sense that Ezra is styled ‘Sopher,’ and not in the 
signification applied to a Scribe. It is to advance the idea 
that he was a man of letters, well versed in the national 
literature. And under the same appellation are recognized 
our oldest sages, those to whom we ascribe the most useful 
and venerated institutions,—viz.: ‘‘Sopherim.’’ Hence, the 
common expression, “‘ordinances of the Law, and ordinances 
of the Sopherim.’’ The Greeks gave the title of “Gram- 
marian”’ to any individual of culture, to one highly edu- 
cated; we, in a figurative expression, call him a literato. 

But together with the participial noun ‘‘Sopher’”’ by 
which Ezra was distinguished, we meet the adjective ‘“‘Ma- 
hir.”” ‘This Ezra went up from Babylon (to Palestine) 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 105 


and he was Sopher Mahir in the law of Moses, which the 
Lord God of Israel had given’’ (Ezra vii.6). The ety- 
mology of the word would present to the mind the idea of 
quickness and promptness; but in reality, it means one who 
is a talented, expert,! as the following sentence in Proverbs 
xxii. 29, clearly proves: ‘‘Hast thou seen a man Mahir in 
his work? He can stand before kings.’’ Here, the adjec- 
tive ‘‘Mahir”’ cannot, certainly, express haste and dispatch 
but knowledge and skill. Likewise Isaiah (xvi, 5) writes, 
‘‘A throne shall be established in mercy, and thereon 
shall sit a judge seeking justice, and Mahir of righteousness.”’ 
To administer the laws uprightly, the quality essentially to 
be possessed, is not quickness, but ripe experience and proved 
ability 

In fact, when we closely examine the facts connected with 
the life of Ezra, as told by himself and his coadjutor Nehe- 
miah, we discover that he was thoroughly conversant 
with the divine code, and that in order to make his co- 
religionists understand it, and keep its tenets steadfastly, his 
mind was intently at work. But we are not shown any- 
where that he exercised the functions of ‘“‘Scribe”’ or copyist. 

True: Several of our commentators and celebrated 
critics, such as Kimchi and the Ephodi, held this as their 
view. They conceived that, owing to the Babylonian 
emigration, the holy books had suffered some detriments 
which, Ezra, in conjunction with his venerable colleagues, 
repaired; that they collated various codices, and set in the 
margin of the respective volumes various /ections found, but 
without daring to alter, in the least, the text itself. Such 
an hypothesis—not at all savoring of heterodoxy—has 
been, nevertheless, reasonably combatted by the very 
learned Abarbanel in his preface to Jeremiah. And what 
he brought forth to overthrow it, has been strongly sup- 
plemented by Elias the Levite in a famous preliminary dis- 
course, the third he prefixed to his ‘‘ Massoret ha-Massoret.’”? 


t Possibly, having become so through quick perception.—(Trans- 
lator.) 
2 It may not be familiarly known that Elias, the Levite,—who goes 


106 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


With cogency he demonstrates that if marginal lections 
(called Keri and Ketib)? had been introduced by Ezra and 
his colleagues, in cases wherein they entertained a doubt as 
to the correct reading, such could not take place in the 
books which he himself and his co-laborers wrote; for 
example, in Nehemiah, Esther, Chronicles, etc.2 It would 
be absurd to imagine that the authors of such volumes felt 
doubtful and uncertain about some of the readings in the 
productions of their own pens. 


more generally by the name of ‘Elijah Bahur,” from a writing of his 
pen which he called ‘“‘Bahur’’—published in Italy towards the beginning 
of the 16th century, a work on the Massora, or the correct reading of 
the Hebrew text of the Scriptures, enriched with grammatical rules, and 
revealing a vast amount of painstaking and great erudition. To his 
work may fittingly be applied the Latin saying ‘“‘multum in parvo,”’ so 
varied and useful is the information it imparts. Born in Germany, 
Rabbi Elijah travelled far to increase his store of learning. His 
endeavors proved successful to such a degree, that, being at Rome, 
Cardinal Egidio engaged him as his private teacher and liberally 
supplied all his wants. In connection with this circumstance, it may 
be worth mentioning that the Jewish contemporaries of Rabbi Elijah 
seem to have looked with disfavor upon his having undertaken to train 
a Christian in Hebrew literature; for, by way of apology, he expresses 
himself as follows: ‘‘I fully aknowledge, as if I were before a rightly 
constituted triubunal, that I have been the instructor of non-Israelites. 
Still, I belong to the God of the Hebrews, and Him I fear, even the Maker 
of heaven and earth. Far be it from me to go astray. I consider my- 
self free from blame, because our Rabbis prohibited teaching only the 
heathen of their times; men who denied the existence of the everlasting 
Crea or. But the Gentiles of our days must not be confounded with the 
pagans alluded to in theTalmud.”’ Then, in passing, he intimates that 
if the idea had ever arisen, that on account of the position he held he 
defiled himself with forbidden food, it shoud be altogether dismissed. 
(Translator). 

* Two technical Aramaic terms, purposing to signify that the reading 
of the word is not exactly as it is spelt. Rabbi Elijah counted the oc- 
casions on which they are met throughout Holy Writ, and he asserts 
them to be altogether 848, divided as follows: 65 in the Pentateuch, 454 
in the Prophets and 329 in the Hagiographa. Much has been written 
regarding the “Keri and Ketib,” but the authorship and object thereof 
remain yet a moot question.—(Translator). 

2 The Talmud in treatise Baba Batra, attributes to the men of the 
Great Synod, the collating of those sacred volumes.—(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 107 


But a still more weighty consideration strikes my mind, 
such as leads me to deny altogether the alleged detriments 
suffered by Holy Writ on account of the Babylonian emi- 
gration. I find in sacred books written subsequently to 
the time when the just-spoken of injury is said to have 
been received by the text,! mention made of a number of 
volumes, which, in after ages became entirely lost. I find, 
for instance, the prophecies of Nathan, of Ahijah, of She- 
maiah, of Iddo, of Jehu, son of Hanani, and the private 
chronicles of the kings of Judah and Israel. 

Now, if the Babylonian invasion did not bring about 
the loss of so many volumes of minor importance, which, 
however disappeared from among us afterwards, through 
their comparatively small value, how can it be sustained 
that that invasion, however sweeping, succeeded in des- 
troying or impairing the copies of the law of God; copies 
which, by reason of their character, must have grown to 
an extensive number, and must have been jealously kept 
by whomsoever was the possessor thereof? 

Guided by all these facts, we need not fear to establish 
as a firm:principle that the holy books suffered nothing 
through the dissolution of the Monarchy in the days of 
our forefathers; that Ezra did not alter, nor did he in any 
way modify, the sacred code; that he was not a Scribe—as 
the term is understood now—and that the Hebrew text 
which we have must not at all be called, as some critics 
would unwarrantably style it, Ezraic, but only Mosaic and 
Divine. 

I think it useless here to refer to the 18 words’, termed 


t In Chronicles, ascribed by the Talmud to Ezra and his Synod.— 
(Translator). 

2 It would be impossible to tell the reader briefly what all those eigh- 
teen words are, and of what the alterations consist. I will merely cite 
two, and they will explain the rest. It has been supposed by some of the 
Rabbis that the original text did not read, for instance, in Genesis xviii.22; 
“‘Abraham was yet standing before the Lord,’”’ but the Lord was yet 
standing before Abraham, viz., communing with the patriarch, and that 
the words were transposed out of respect to the Deity. So, likewise, that 
Moses did not exclaim, ‘‘If Thou deal thus with me, kill me at once, I 


108 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


by Midrash Tanhuma, and by the Masorah, ‘‘an emenda- 
tion of the Scribes,’’ because an emendation to which they 
who made it call our attention—even if it took place— 
could not impair, in the least, the integrity of the text. 

I have said, ‘‘even if it took place,” because Albo holds 
as his final conclusion that such an emendation cannot 
mean an actual correction, but a reference made to the 
softening of the diction, by the sacred historians, so that 
the sentence in various places does not appear as harsh 
as the intended expression of the author might have 
sounded. 

Ibn Ezra, however, has shown in different parts of 
his commentaries that, judging from analogy, the context 
will not admit of the reading of those 18 words in any other 
manner, than as they stand in the present text. 

It would not be right that I should let a famous ob- 
jection, raised against the genuineness of the Hebrew text 
pass unnoticed. Many critics, following in the wake of 
Father Morino, have thought, and still think, the objection 
presented by certain discrepancies between our Pentateuch 
and the Samaritan Pentateuch, insuperable. Two centuries 
ago a written copy of the five books of Moses, preserved by a 
small residue of the Samaritan people’ in their peculiar 


pray Thee, if I have found favor in Thy presence, and let me not see 
my wretchedness,’’ Numbers xi, 15: but their wretchedness, and 
the Scribes not wishing to record an evil omen against Israel made the 
change in the pronoun. Of these emendations 3 have been pointed out 
in the Pentateuch, 10 in the Prophets, and 5 in the Hagiographa. The 
learned Yedidyah Solomon of Norzi, in his very useful work ‘Minhat 
Shai,’ quotes a number of writers and he inclines to believe that the 
Sopherim, so called from Saphar, ‘‘tocount,’”’ who counted every sentence 
and every word in Holy Writ, to guard against interpolations, made a 
‘Tikkun’ in their minds, that is, it became their settled conviciton, 
that the text ought to have been written otherwise than it has been 
handed down. (Translator). 

1 Every one is acquainted with the origin of the sect of Samaritans, 
or Cutheans, as the Rabbis have been wont to call them, from Cuthah, 
one of the principal cities, whence those ancient heathens were sent 
by victorious Assyria to populate Samaria, after the breaking up of the 
kingdom of Israel by the army of Shalmanesser. Every reader of 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 109 


characters, was brought to Europe. Having been printed, 
it was discovered to be at variance, in many places, with 
the common reading of our original. 

Then a fondness for novelty, which will always thrust 
aside the old to make room for the new, and the ordinary for 
the extraordinary, caused many critics to look on that as 
the veritable text of the Mosaic code. It was surmised 
that in the same manner as our fathers changed the ancient 
alphabetical characters—held to be those which are still 
in use among the Samaritans—into the Assyrian or Chaldaic, 
so did they also, in many instances, tamper with both words 
and sentences of the sacred volume. It took fully two 
centuries before the attractiveness of the novelty wore off, 
and old truth received a hearing anew. 

Gesenius,' prince of Orientalists, notwithstanding 
his being infected with modern errors on points of greater 
moment than this, may claim the honor of having exhibited 
to a light as bright as noonday, the very source whence 


the Bible knows likewise what hostility that mongrel sect evinced 
against the exiles of Babylon when striving to re-establish their religion 
and polity in Palestine, consequent upon the edict of Cyrus. But some 
may not have heard that ‘‘the Men of the Great Synagogue,”’ or synod- 
begun with Ezra, and closed about 100 years later at the demise of Simeon 
the Just—thought fit to raise a barrier between the avowed believers in 
the Unity and those who shuffled and shifted their religious position 
according to circumstances, by choosing different characters from theirs 
for transcribing Holy Writ. Samaritan manuscripts of the Pentateuch 
(for they possess no other books of the Bible, save a legendary work 
which they dignify with the title of ‘‘The Book of Joshua’’) remained 
hidden from the eyes of critics; though the Talmud alludes to wilful 
corruptions grafted on the text. Towardsthe middle of the 17th century 
they were first open for inspection, and were read with avidity by learned 
men traveling in ancient Shechem, now Nablus, where a very few 
families of the aforenamed sect still reside ——(Translator). 

t Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Gesenius (1786-1842), a German 
orientalist and biblical critic, was professor of Hebrew at the University 
of Halle for more than thirty years. His text books on Hebrew grammar 
and lexicography have become standards of excellence throughout the 
world and have gone through numerous editions in various tongues. 
He also wrote commentaries on several books of the Bible as well as 
works on Semitic and general philology. [G] 


110 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


proceeded the variations in the Samaritan text. He has 
demonstrated that they are all the issue of an unwarrantable 
and often senseless criticism, aiming to improve the original 
by rendering it more intelligible, more consistent, more 
analogical to rules, and finally more conformable to the 
language and belief of those schismatics. He divides those 
variations in eight classes, which I must quote with a few, 
out of the many, illustrations which our author gives.’ 
Scholarship—a goodly accompaniment—and, what is more, 
the importance of being in readiness to defend religion, de- 
mand that sound ideas touching those discrepancies be 
formed. 


The first class comprises a great many pretended emen- 
dations, tending to the removal of grammatical anomalies. 
Thus, when our text has used the rather uncommon personal 
pronoun Nahnu, ‘‘we,’’ the Samaritan reads the usual one 
Anahnu. Where we employ the word Hael, ‘these,’ 
the Samaritan has the regular word Haeleh. Where we find 
written Tomim, ‘“‘twins,”’ the other has Teomim; and by 
similar would-be grammatical corrections the hand that 
alters betrays itself, and enhances, by contrast, the venerable 
genuineness of our hallowed books. The second comprehends 
several kinds of comments, interpretations, and remarks of 
the Samaritan critics introduced with the view of lending 
additional light. Thus, for ha-ger ha-gar ‘‘the stranger so- 
journeying,” it has ha-ger asher yagur “the stranger that 
might sojourn; for zaken vesabea', ‘‘old and satisfied”’ 
(viz., happy), it has zaken usba‘ yamim, that is, “full of 
years.”” For ‘“‘these are the children of Seir’’, it has, ‘‘the 
children of Esau;’”” and many other changes of a similar 
character. 


* T have taken the liberty of reducing them to a still fewer number, 
for the reason mentioned in my note prefixed to the translation. I 
desire to ease typographical labor, and as this part of Luzzatto’s 
introduction specially teems with quotations in Hebrew, the nature of 
which is such that the same quotations could not be reproduced intelli- 
gibly in English characters, Iam unwillingly compelled to curtail.— 
(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION.TO THE PENTATEUCH 111 


The third class contains some slight changes or addi- 
tions, designed to explain away seeming or imaginary 
difficulties and obscure passages. Thus in Genesis xlvii,21: 
‘‘As for the people, he removed them to the cities;’’ the 
Samaritan text reads, ‘he removed them as servants.’’* 
The expression of Jacob to his children in urging them to 
go to Egyptand buy corn, ‘‘ Why do you look at one another?”’ 
has been changed into ‘‘Why do you look in dismay?” In 
the case of Balak sending for Balaam, his countryman, the 
phrase Eretz bene Ammo, was, with a huge geographical 
blunder, altered into bene Ammon; and several other inexact 
or, at all events, pretended emendations, quite superfluous, 
will be met under this head. 


To the fourth class belong some changes or slight sug- 
gestions predicated on parallel cases, purposing to render 
the sacred text more uniform and complete. So, for example 
whenever Moses’ father-in-law is called by any other name 
than the usual one, Jethro, the Samaritan critics made an 
alteration; so likewise with regard to Joshua, never allowing 
him to have been called Hoshea. And this anxiety for a 
conformity in the holy volumes, led the same critics to 
reduce the full number of the years of the lives of the 
post-deluvians. In like manner they did not fail to scru- 
pulously mention all the seven Canaanitish peoples, when- 
ever our copy counts only some of them. 


The fifth class abounds with interpolations of greater 
moment, based always upon parallel passages. Where 
the Pentateuch alludes to something said or done before by 
Moses or others, but which is not clearly expressed in previous 
sentences, the Samaritan text inserts in the earlier context the 
precise words of the later reference. Thus, by way of illustra- 


t If I may venture an opinion on this subject, I would say, that 
the Samaritan scribe mistook a Resh for a Dalet, which letters are also 
in the ancient Hebrew characters somewhat similar in form, and having 
read ‘‘He‘ebid”’ for ‘“‘He‘ebir”’, took it for granted that the sentence 
must have run so. ‘Ve’et ha‘am he’‘ebid oto la‘abadim,” viz.: He 
subjected the people as slaves, a phrase contrary to the genius of 
the Hebrew language.—(Translator). 


112 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


tion: In thesixth Chapter of Exodus, we read that the people 
‘did not listen to Moses through anguish of spirit and hard 
bondage.’’ But as the Israelites, appalled at the sight of 
their former masters, pursuing them near the Red Sea cried 
unto Moses, ‘‘Is this not the thing which we spoke to 
thee in Egypt, saying, ‘let us alone and we will serve the 
Egyptians, for it is better that we should serve the Egyptians, 
than we should die in the wilderness?’ the Samar- 
itans added this very complaint to the verse first cited. 
Again; after the Hebrews had sinned in worshipping the 
molten calf, Moses entreated the Lord for their sake. Noth- 
ing is then related as to any special supplication made on 
that occasion for Aaron. But because in Deuteronomy 
1x.20, Moses referring to that event, said: ‘‘The Lord was 
very wroth with Aaron and would destroy him, but I 
prayed also for Aaron at that time;”’ therefore to this passage 
in Exodus xxx11.10 ‘‘Now let me be, so that my anger 
may kindle against them, and I make an end of them” 
the Samaritans add the following: ‘‘The Lord was very 
wroth with Aaron to destroy him, but Moses prayed for 
Aaron.’’ And in this way the text is burdened with a 
load of such interpolations, partly needless and partly out 
of all reason. 

Our author consigns to the sixth class those places in 
the hallowed code where the meaning of the words is 
plain and clear, but the Samaritan critic, fancying to see 
something inconsistent, did not hesitate to alter and modify 
at pleasure. 

Thus, with regard to the years attained by the patriarchs, 
both those before, and those after the flood, the number 
was so changed that longevity might gradually decrease, 
and never should the son live longer than the father. Hence 
the years of Yered were reduced from 962 to 847, those of 
Methuselah from 969 to 720, those of Lemech from 777 to 
653, and lastly those of Eber from 464 to 404. Then the 
same Samaritan critic dreamt that none of the ante-delu- 
vians could have begotten children any later than at the 
150th year of his life; and none of the post-deluvians before 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 113 


his 50th year. Hence, he makes Yered a father at the age 
of 62 instead of 162; Methuselah at that of 67 instead of 187; 
Lemech at 53 instead of 182; Arpachshad, on the contrary, 
at 135 instead of 25; Shelach at 130 instead of 30; and so he 
does as he lists with all others.? 

In this class is reckoned also the famous interpolation, 
which makes the sentence in Exodus xii, 40, read: 
“The residence of the children of Israel (and of their 
fathers who dwelt in the land of Canaan and) in the land 
of Egypt, was 430 years.’”’ And the other, ‘‘God finished on 
the sixth day His works which He had done,”’ instead of 
‘“‘the seventh.’”’ And that in Genesis xxxi, 3, ‘‘And all the 
shepherds gathered there, and they rolled the stone from 
the mouth of the well,’ in lieu of “all the flocks,’’—the 
Samaritan editor fearing, perhaps, that some might suppose 
the lambs and goats were accustomed to remove the stone. 

The seventh class of alterations in the Samaritan 
manuscript, as pointed out by Gesenius, is made up of 
changes that do violence to the genius of the Hebrew lan- 


t It may not be inopportune to remark on this point, that modern 
critics have exceeded the Samaritans in ingenuity. For some of them 
have tried to make us believe that a year of that period was equiva- 
lent toa month of our reckoning. Accordingly, Adam was 130 months 
old, not quite 11 years, when his son Cain was born. And Enoch a 
little more than 6 when Methuselah came to the world. How ludi- 
crous! But it never occurred to these sapient critics that ‘‘Shanah’”’ 
has always been employed to signify that cycle of months, which, ap- 
parently, the sun takes to revolve in its ecliptic, as the etymology of 
the word denotes——‘‘Shanah,”’ “‘to repeat,”’ while ‘“‘ Hodesh,”’ ‘ month,”’ 
signifies a renewal or the changes presented by the phases of the moon. 
At any rate, the account of the flood sweeps away the flimsy arguments 
raised to explain away the plain text. For it is recorded that Noah was 
600 years old when he entered the ark, and 601 when he left it. Then 
we read that the waters kept very high on the earth 150 days, that is 
5 months all but a few days, and from that hour they began visibly to 
fail, till in the tenth month the tops of the mountains could be seen. 
There is no ingenuity which can possibly construe that incident other- 
wise than its obvious meaning. I believe that the shock which the 
habitable globe received by the deluge, affected materially man’s 
physical constitution, so that we hear Abraham at the age of one 
hundred called ‘‘an old man.’ (Translator), 


114 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


guage, and betray a close analogy to the Samaritan dia- 
lect. Thus will the reader meet there a quantity of words 
constructed in the Aramaic fashion. For instance: Lich 
‘‘to thee,’’ instead of Lach. Yehidach ‘thy only one,’’ in 
the place of Yehidecha. 


Under this head may be comprised some monstrous 
changes, introduced at random, in connection with the 
guttural letters, for the simple reason that the Samaritan 
tongue makes no distinction between the sound of one 
and that of the other, as Benjamin of Tudelat had occasion 
to observe. He says, in the account of his travels, that the 
sect just named lacks the He, Het, and ‘Ayin, which 
must be understood to refer to their pronunciation, for 
the letters themselves can be seen in the manuscripts.’ 
Thus by setting an Ayin where a Het ought to have been, 
and vice-versa, they destroy the sense of many Biblical 
sentences, and not infrequently in a manner provoking 
laughter. For example: when Moses writes “from the 
blood of the grapes didst thou drink unmixed wine’’ 
(Genesis XL1x.11), the Samaritan text has “‘didst thou drink 
wool.” Blunders of a similar nature abound in this class. 


The eighth and last class, presents modifications and 
alterations, designed to render the text subservient to the 
theology, the oral interpretation, and peculiar worship of 
that people, and to prevent an ignorant multitude from 
being shocked by certain expressions in the original. On 
this score, it must first be observed that in four places an 
entire sentence has been grammatically re-arranged, 
because the appellation Elohim (God) stood in the text 
in a way that might have raised a suspicion of plurality 
of deities. For example the utterance of Jacob 


’ 
* Benjamin of Tudela travelled, during the 12th century, from 
Spain to the far East. The veracity of his narratives has been often 
impugned by critics; but in Asher’s English edition, (London 1840) the 
translator, I believe, vindicates the Spanish Jew from all aspersions 
and proves him thoroughly reliable-—(Translator). 
2 They donot have, however, in their alphabet the five special 
forms of final letters —(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’'S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 215 


(Genesis XLv11I.16) ‘‘The angel, who redeemed me from 
every evil, may bless the lads”’ has been made to read “‘the 
King who redeemed me.’? An excessive zeal,—ill-con- 
ceived—gave rise to a fear that the dogma of the Unity 
might suffer detriment through scriptural passages of this 
character. A like zeal, equally misdirected, induced the 
Samaritan to become the avenger of the word of God, as 
he thought, by changing several phrases savoring of an- 
thropomorphism, or rather anthropopathism. In the song 
of Moses (Exodus xv.3), ‘“‘the Lord is a warrior’ (lit., 
a man of battle), the Samaritan reads ‘‘the Lord is mighty 
in battle.’’ So, in lieu of ‘‘the anger of the Lord smoked,” 
(Deuteronomy xx1x.19) ‘* the anger of the Lord kindled.” 

Led by the same zeal, the Scribe deemed it due to the 
fathers of our nation that he should not write what Jacob 
spoke on his death-bed about Simeon and Levi, but rather 
soften it with a less harsh term. Hence he substituted 
Addir for “‘Arur,” and wrote in Gen. xL1x 7: “ Fearful is 
their wrath,” and not ‘‘Cursed be their wrath.” 

On the other hand, hatred against the two tribes of 
Judah and Benjamin guided the pen to transform the 
benediction of Moses upon Benjamin, so that rather than 
he should be styled “‘the beloved of the Lord,”’ the endearing 
word should be rendered meaningless—as the expression 
“The hand, the hand of the Lord shall dwell safely on him”’ 
certainly is (changing Yedid into Yad, Yad—hand, hand). A 
false respect for the Holy Law wrought also changes in var- 
ious words that sounded vulgar in the critic’s ears; while the 
peculiar worship of the Samaritans placed the mountain 
Gerizim where the Arch-prophet had put Ebal. Thus 
would that sect cast a degree of holiness upon the mountain 
whereon its temple had been erected. Hence proceeded aiso 
the famous interpolation inserted at the end of the Deca- 
olgue, to wit: “It shall be that, when the Lord thy God shall 
bring thee unto the land of the Canaanite, whither thou go- 


t Seeing this, I surmised that the Samaritans discarded the belief 
in angels, but from subsequent reading I discovered that I had formed 
a wrong impression.—(Translator). 


116 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


est to inherit it, thou shalt raise up great stones, and plaster 
them over with plaster, then shalt thou write upon the 
stones all the words of this Law.t| And when you shall have 
passed over the Jordan, you shall raise these stones about 
which I command you in Mount Gerizim, and then shalt thou 
build an altar to the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoice 
before the Lord thy God. That mount is on the other side of 
the Jordan far in the way of the West, tn the land of the Can- 
aantte, who dwells in the plains over against Gilgal, by the grove 
of Moreh, opposite Shechem.” 

This analysis,—perhaps too long and wearisome,—of 
the various readings of the Samaritan text, as instituted by 
one of the greatest among modern Orientalists, suffices, I 
think, to draw from every sensible critic the acknowledg- 
ment that it is spurious in its many features, corrupted and 
tampered with. We may, at the same time, perceive how 
mistaken are Morino, Houbigant, Kennicott and others, who 
mostly prefer the Samaritan readings to ours, and how even 
the more moderate De Rossi? is at fault. For, in his treatise 
prefacing the enumeration of different readings of the text, 
he concedes to the Samaritan a legitimate source, of which 
he afterwards makes use to correct the sacred code (Part II 
Canon B.). In the first part thereof, he regards the Hebrew 
manuscript and the Samaritan as distinct copies of the 
same original. One he calls ancient, Israelitish, ante- 
Babylonian, ante-Ezraic, unaltered, and that is, the Samar- 
itan. The other he styles Jewish, Palestinian, Ezraic, re- 
formed, and this is ours. 

* No doubt ‘Law,’ in this case, as in many others, stands for 
‘teaching,’ and it alludes to the chapter of Deuteronomy recording the 
blessings and the curses for there it is that this sentence occurs in our 
text.—(Translator). 

2 John B. DeRossi—a Catholic clergyman, librarian to the Duchess 
of Parma—wrote very learnedly on various scriptural topics in the Latin 
language. But he is best known in the world of letters for his “‘His- 
torical Dictionary of Hebrew Authors and of their Works.”’ It has been 
translated from the Latin into different languages. During the years 
1867-8, Mayer Sulzberger made an English version from the German, 


and published the whole of that work ‘seriatim’ in the Occident, then 
edited by the late Rev. Isaac Leeser.—(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 117 


We have shown clearly enough in the above analysis, 
that reformed and wilfully altered is, in all truth, the Samari- 
tan; for the very reason that so many apparent incongruities, 
obscure sentences and ambiguous sayings are effectively re- 
moved; and that pure, genuine, intact is the Hebrew text, 
in which all those anomalies and seemingly incorrect pas- 
sages still exist. The very same De Rossi set down as a 
fact in his critical canons—forming the second part of the 
aforementioned treatise—that every language, as every 
age, presents irregularities and that we should not rashly 
put them aside as mistakes, but rather deem them the 
correct intention of the writer, and be very chary in 
laying our hand thereon. For it is against all rules to sub- 
stitute for them words that sound better, or appear more 
suitable, but we should let those irregularities remain un- 
touched. From this wise criterion, we may infer with 
certainty that true and original are the readings of the 
Hebrew codes—though many a time anomalous and ap- 
parently incorrect—and that spurious and adulterated are 
those of the Samaritan text, so entirely free from incongrui- 
ties.? 

Having descanted at considerable length on the Samari- 
tan Pentateuch, with the view of setting forth and illustrating 
the classes, into which its readings that clash with ours, were 
with such rare discernment, divided by Gesenius, I must 
be allowed to dwell on it a little longer, and add a sugges- 
tion of my own to those of the authority cited. 


* I have given the substance of a passage from DeRossi which 
Luzzatto quotes in full—(Translator). 

2 In concluding the translation of this part of Luzzatto’s “‘Intro- 
duction to the Pentateuch’”’ where Gesenius’ writings were chosen as a 
guide, I am compelled by a sense of justice to say, that the immortal 
author composed it for the benefit of the students at the Rabbinical 
college as early as 1829. For, since then, Raphael Kirchheim issued 
an exceedingly learned production in Hebrew called ‘‘ Karme Shomeron,”’ 
where much that is contained in this part of the Introduction is metho- 
dically enlarged upon. The author has also enriched his book with an 
erudite letter from the pen of the late Professor at Padua, it being a 
criticism on the religious songs used by the Samaritans.—(Translator), 


118 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


It strikes me that this critical and very learned linguist 
who, in the course of his researches came very close to the 
truth, halted just one step back and did not fully reach it. 
He detected the various characters of the various readings 
of that refashioned text, but he did not reach, or at least 
set forth, the general aim, the leading principle. He did 
not penetrate, I say, into that central and all-pervading 
cause, whence those alterations arose. As to myself, I 
discover, unless my judgment misleads me, that the motive 
power impelling the Samaritans to make such changes, was 
one, uniform and universal, and that is, to get rid of the 
traditions. The implacable hatred they have harbored and 
still harbor toward the Jews, the sole depositaries of the 
oral teachings, hindering those schismatics from acknowledg- 
ing and accepting what the others possessed, dictated 
the bold and impious expedient of discarding it en- 
tirely. In fact, they do not recognize any tradition what- 
ever. Now, to do away with every oral explanation and 
elucidation, of which quite a large number of passages, 
obscure, ambiguous, and in a manner irregular in the 
sacred code stand in need, they have striven to alter all 
those passages and mould them in a form, exhibiting neither 
obscurity nor anomaly, and therefore in no need for illus- 
tration and exposition. So, they thought they could become 
utterly independent of the detested Jews. 

This seems to me to be the ruling spirit of all, or nearly 
all, the Samaritan readings both in the changes and in the 
additions. Such of them that do not bear me out, are in- 
voluntary mistakes of an amanuensis, or a few later altera- 
tions perpetrated for the sake of favoring the Samaritan 
schism. Theabove consideration, while offering a plausible 
reason for the monstrous discrepancies in the text at issue, 
furnishes also an obvious proof of the antiquity of the 
oral traditions, which the Karaites would make us believe 
never to have existed before Simeon ben Shatah.t This 
much will suffice. 


t The readers conversant with the Talmud, or with the writings of 
Josephus, will remember that when King Alexander Janaeus in his mad 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 119 


Another long and determined opposition to the Hebrew 
text was made by several critics, who took for their ground 
the notably numerous discrepancies between it and the 
celebrated version of the seventy sages. Indeed, once 
admitted, as many ancient writers have told us, that the 
translation was undertaken by just seventy sages, whom the 
high priest himself had chosen, in the time and at the request 
of King Ptolemy Philadelphus, it must follow that such a 
rendering of the Scriptures could have been all that might 
be possibly expected; aye, exact, faithful and corresponding 
precisely to the original. On seeing, therefore, that 
the same version is egregiously in conflict with our text, 
not a few were led to think that the latter had been wilfully 
distorted and tampered with. And most readily some 
Christians jumped at that conclusion, because a number of 
passages met in the books of the New Testament are quoted 
agreeably to the Septuagint translation, and differently 
altogether from the way in which they sound in the Hebrew 
text. This became a strong weapon which some ancient 


anger against the Pharisees, killed many of the sages, Simeon ben Shatah, 
whose sister was the royal consort, eluded detection and escaped. The 
Karaites pretend that he fled to Alexandria, where many Israelites resided 
and that during the exile he invented a new law, which he palmed off as 
a tradition from the fathers, and around which, when allowed to return to 
Palestine, he rallied the bulk of the nation. This incredible story is 
insisted upon by a great champion of Karaism, Mordecai Nissan, in his 
work entitled ‘Dod Mordechai.’ His allegations, however, rest on 
fancy; for it has not been positively proved that Simeon ben Shatah 
went to Alexandria, nor can the idea that such an imposition could be 
successfully practiced on a whole people, be entertained for a moment, 
since the very Sadducees, the deadly foes of Rabbinism, never brought 
forth the charge. The fact is that the Karaites owe their origin to a 
certain R. Anan said to have lived in Persia, during the eighth century of 
the vulgar era, for by their own confession, they then assumed that name. 
It would exceed the limits of a note to discuss whether disappointment 
at not having been chosen to the high position of Exilarch (Resh Galuta) 
or other causes gave origin to the schism. The Karaites hold this Anan 
in the greatest veneration and assume that in keeping aloof from the 
rest of the Jews they obey his peremptory order. Members of that sect 
are principally found in the Crimea, but they have also synagogues in 
some cities of the East.—(Translator). 


120 _ ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Christian writers wielded, in striking the Jews when accusing 
them of having acted in bad faith and with malice afore- 
thought by adulterating their books. And this constitutes 
also the principal missile in the hand of Louis Cappellus in 
his widely-known critical strictures against the integrity of 
our hallowed volumes, and in which he was followed by a 
large number of critics. 

All are aware that the Talmudists, in the first chapter 
of treatise Megillah (9a,b), make mention of thirteen al- 
terations advisedly made by those translators. Out of them 
however, only four can be discovered in the version, as now 
existing ; butasa compensation for the remaining nine, thous- 
ands of the most prodigious nature can be counted therein. 
To account for such inconsistencies, without impugning the 
integrity of the sacred text, I present the hypothesis in 
which the famous Rabbi Azariah? indulged in the ninth 
chapter of his Meor ’Enayim. 

He thinks that since the days of Ezra, our learned men 
had set about making a translation of the Pentateuch in 
the Chaldaic language, which might serve the people, and 
facilitate the understanding of the original. He then sup- 
poses that through the carelessness of the commonalty for 
whom the version had been undertaken, errors were suffered 


t For instance, ‘I will make man’ instead ‘Let us make man,’ and 
similar emendations, to avoid creating a wrong impression of the tenets 
of Judaism, or to prevent offending the sensitiveness of the king.— 
(Translator). 

2 Rabbi Azariah of the Adomim (DeRossi)—a man of small size and 
weak body, but a giant in intellect, and a mighty seeker after truth, 
wrote in Italy about the middle of the 16th century. His opinions on 
many points are deservedly quoted as authoritative, but like others, 
he embraced the erroneous notion about a Greek translation of Holy 
Writ completed by seventy Palestinian sages, and all the legends 
accompanying it. The unsparing criticism of our age has exploded 
that notion. While admitting that a version of the five books of 
Moses may have been undertaken as early as three centuries before the 
vulgar era for the use of Alexandrian Jews, mostly ignorant of the Hebrew, 
it has been shown that the present Greek rendering of the Scriptures 
cannot claim the antiquity and venerable origin which has been ascribed 
to it.—(Translator). [See pp. 58-67. [G]] 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH § 121 


to creep in, so that it grew to be extremely faulty. Then, 
again, he imagines that the seventy sages chose to shape 
their rendering of the Bible after the Chaldaic text, because 
in common use, rather than after the Hebrew, which few 
read and comprehended. 


I find this hypothesis untenable, for the reason that 
Aramaic paraphrases were not committed to writing till 
long after that, but the same rule was applied to them as 
to the old traditions. In fact, itis evident from the Talmud 
that the so-called Meturgeman (interpreter), recited the 
translation of the Scriptural section for the week in the 
various places of public worship, always by rote, and never 
from a manuscript.’ 


So true it is that the renowned Ritba,3 commenting 
on the first chapter of Treatise Megzllah, alleges as a 


* Our author speaks learnedly on this subject in the preface to 
his ‘Oheb Ger.’—(Translator). 

2 In connection with the question of the appointment anciently 
made of a Meturgeman, it may here be observed, in passing, that they 
who believe that the interspersing throughout the Hebrew ritual of the 
languages of different countries through which we are scattered, is simply 
the revival of an olden practice, labor under a palpable misapprehension. 
Though our people at large spoke not the Hebrew, yet nothing but that 
sacred tongue was employed at the Temple and in the Synagogues during 
the Divine service, from Ezra down to the days within the recollection 
of the present generation. The ‘Kaddish’, the only prayer in Aramaic, I 
have reason to think, was originally an invocation with which the Rabbis 
concluded their usual studies and gradually became embodied in the 
liturgy and enlarged, particularly by the Sephardic Jews, who contracted 
also the habit of publicly translating into Spanish some Haftarot, and 
some elegies for various fasts. Inancient times, however, the Parashah, 
or portion of the Pentateuch not belonging properly to the ritual, after 
having been first read in the original, was translated or rather paraphrased 
in Aramaic, as the means of popular instruction. The Derashah of 
later days may have superseded that practice. At all events, the art 
of printing, which places into the hand of every person a book, having 
on one side the holy language, and on the other the vernacular, would 
seem to answer the purpose, especially so, when an explanatory lecture 
is superadded.—(Translator). 

3 Rabbi Yom Tob ben Abraham, of Seville (14th century) a copious 
writer on the Talmud.—(Translator). 


122 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


reason why R. Joseph being blind, discoursed on the Chaldaic 
paraphrase, that just because he was deprived of sight and 
dared not recite the written Law from memory, he habitu- 
ally rehearsed the Aramaic version, and quoted it, as if 
it were a part of the oral traditions. 

Besides, it is not credible that the enlightened and 
zealous Sages, of whom we had a great number during the 
second Temple, could have neglected a manuscript, said to 
be in the hands of all classes of their people, to such an extent 
as to let it vary materially from the hallowed original in 
the manner we perceive that the Greek version does vary. 

The same R. Azariah is not backward in producing 
another hypothesis, to satisfy the reader who may not have 
been pleased with the former. Here is the process by which 
he tries to loosen a tight knot. He surmises that the veri- 
table Septuagint-translation exists no more; that it either 
perished in the great fire which consumed the Alexandrian 
library, during the Roman wars, or that, if it did not become 
a prey to the burning flames, the Greeks of Alexandria, who 
have always borne ill-will to the Israelites, and who have been 
noted for their mendacious and false character, disfigured it 
maliciously and corrupted it. 

We shall not stop to put the two suppositions in the 
scales of judgment and determine which of them preponder- 
ates. Nor will we argue the point as to whom the present 
Greek version must be attributed. Suffice it for us simply to 
observe that the traces of incorrectness and of ignorance on 
the part of the authors are so glaring, that it loses every title 
to credence, and it cannot therefore be contrasted in the 
slightest degree with the sacred text which we possess. 

With regard to the anomalies met in the Greek version, 
we may cite that in Genesis xxviii, 19, where the translator, 
mistaking the conjunction Ulam (however) fora noun, coupled 
it with the following word, and made the sentence run so: 
“‘But the name of the city was at first Ulam-Luz.”” And to 
be consistent in blundering, he did the same in Judgesxviii, 
28, where he wrote, “But the name of the city was at first 
Ulam-Laish.’’ Even in the third chapter of the Book of 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH | 123 


Lamentations, where the division of the short verses leaves 
no room for the slightest doubt, because three of each begin 
with the same letter, forming a kind of alphabetical acrostic, 
that translator working with eyes veiled by ignorance,has 
sometimes joined the last word of one verse with the be- 
ginning of the next, destroying both the sense of the original 
and the plan chosen by the inspired author. 

But an error which must raise a smile by reason of 
the glaring contradiction it involved, is that occurring in 
the Book of Esther vii, 4, where the queen revealing the 
cause of her sorrow has been made to say: ‘‘I and my people 
have been sold to destruction, to slaughter and to bondage.”’ 
instead of ‘extermination,’ while she immediately after 
expressed this thought, “If we had been sold as bondmen 
and bondwomen, I would have remained silent.’’ So 
likewise in I Samuel xu, 3, taking the verb “ Va-a’lim”’ for 
the noun Na’alazm, the translator rendered the passage 
in this ludicrous manner, ‘‘From whom have I taken any 
ransom or shoes?’’ And similar huge errors can be met there, 
almost beyond enumeration.? 

The above will be enough to show of what little weight 
can be the authority of a translation spoiled by such mon- 
strosities, and how unworthy it is of the honorable name of 
“Septuagint”’ it has received. In fact, the most sensible 
among critics, mainly those of modern times, have sub- 
stituted for that appellation the name of “‘a version from 
an Alexandrian translator.” 

Once that the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch has suc- 
ceeded in repelling the attacks which many critics, who took 
their stand on the Samaritan or Alexandrian side, have made 
on it, we may pronounce it perfectly sound and reliable 
throughout. That as far back as fourteen centuries ago 
it was exactly as we possess it, the writing of St. Jerome can 
testify. Even versions still more ancient, such as those of 


t T have again, taken the liberty of reducing the number of illustra- 
tions, because some of them could not have been intelligently presented 
to the reader except in Hebrew characters, and I would have been com- 
pelled to add considerably to typographical labor.—(Translator). 


124 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, agree with that which 
exists at present. And if, at times, they differ, the circum- 
stance proceeds merely from the way in which those trans- 
lators were wont to read the original, destitute of vowel 
points, in their days. The same may be said of Onkelos, 
who, like the translator mentioned first, embraced Judaism." 


Rabbi Azariah, in the forty-fifth chapter of his work, 
imitating our olden preceptors, bestows a meed of praise 
on Aquila. He acknowledges, however, that the version 
loses much in beauty because too servile, too closely attach- 
ed to the letter of the original. The other translators, 


t Onkelos and Aquilas had been, not infrequently, confounded 
together as one person, called by two names somewhat similar in sound. 
Azariah De Rossi, with that acumen and depth of research, which 
entitle him to preeminence amid the ranks of critics, proved them to 
be two distinct individuals. The former—a Roman—cast off the errors 
of heathenism and became a believer in the Unity during the reign of 
Claudius or Nero. Hecompleted an Aramaic version of the Pentateuch, 
which won the approval of the Sages of his time and which is still re- 
garded with such veneration by pious Israelites that they read a portion 
thereof every week. Aquilas—a Greek—craved to be admitted into 
the Abrahamic covenant in the days of Hadrian. He translated all the 
Scriptures in his own native language, but Iam unable to say, from 
personal knowledge, whether his work is extant. R. Azariah warns us 
not to mistake Aquilas the righteous proselyte for Aquila the apostate, 
spoken of occasionally in the New Testament.—(Translator). 

Since this annotation was written, critics, on whose decision per- 
sons may implicitly rely, have proved that Onkelos is a corrupt spelling 
of the name Akilas, or Aquila,—the translator of the Pentateuch in 
the Greek language, from which version the Aramaic was subsequently 
made. Professor Luzzatto who wrote his Oheb Ger, on the so called 
Onkelos version, and in a beautiful Aramaic composition apostrophised 
the supposed proselyte Onkelos, retracted in later years and coincided 
with the opinion of modern critics.—(Translator). 

[Onkelos and Aquila are not to be identified as one person. It is, 
however, generally agreed, that the Rabbis often confused the two names. 
In fact, it is certain that Onkelos had nothing to do with the present 
Aramaic version bearing his name, which was the standard version 
current in Babylon, and should therefore be more correctly referred to 
as the Babylonian version. The supposition that the Aramaic which 
we now have is a translation of the Greek version made by Aquila is 
not generally accepted by scholars. [G]] 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH = 125 


and particularly the last, I mean our Onkelos, often rest 
contented with expressing the ideas clearly, without caring 
to give the precise term corresponding to the Hebrew. Hence 
a reader who would judge of the wording of the text from 
the paraphrase would be easily misled. Hence, again, 
arose the mistake of the already quoted Cappellus, who, 
finding the sentence ‘“‘My doctrine shall drop as rain,” 
rendered by Onkelos Yebassam Kemitra Ulphani, infers 
that Moses, instead of writing ‘‘Ya’aroph,’’ (shall drop), 
had written Ye‘erab (shall be agreeable), corresponding 
to the Chaldaic Yebassam. He surely would have been 
puzzled to explain to us how the paraphrast read the follow- 
ing part of the sentence, ‘“‘my speech shall distill like dew,”’ 
for in place of ‘‘shall distill,’ Onkelos translated shall be 
received. Very evidently in this as in many other instances, 
we must recognize the effect of a free rendering of the 
original, and not any diversity existing in the copies of the 
text itself. 

Equally at fault is J. B. de Rossi, who asserts that 
Onkelos did not have before him our manuscript, since he 
translated the following passage thus: ‘‘Abraham lifted up 
his eyes, after these things (had happened) and behold! 
One ram had been caught in a thicket’ (Genesis xx11I.13). 
I am willing to acknowledge that the word hada (one) 
intrudes in this case, nor have I met it in the most accurately 
printed editions; but I may point to the term Batar (after) 
as to an obvious demonstration that he did have the same 
manuscript; only it suited the Aramaic paraphrast to trans- 
pose somewhat the construction of the sentence. 

Now: if the most ancient translations of the Hebrew 
text do not disclose what can, in the least, invalidate its 
integrity, the manuscripts collated with exceeding industry 
are not at all more successful in bringing about that result. 
With unwearied perseverance and an unsparing outlay of 
means, the Englishman Benjamin Kennicott undertook and 
executed such a collation half a century ago. He noted 
down in the Bible he published, the minutest variations, as 
well as the most stupendous mistakes of the amanuenses, 


126 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


which either himself or his co-laborers had observed in about 
600 manuscripts of the whole of the Pentateuch, or portions 
thereof. J.B. de Rossi extended that collation to as many 
as 1200 manuscripts, besides 300 printed editions. By 
dignifying with the title of Varzae Lectiones the hugest 
blunders, met in the most incorrect copies, thousands of 
such Variae Lectiones can be made up. But then they 
would be devoid of any foundation to standon. They would 
be so beyond doubt as far as it regards the Penateuch, that 
this very J. B. de Rossi in his compendium of Scriptural 
criticism, where he purposes to set to view the usefulness of 
his immense labor, and the emendations which might be 
made to the sacred text, can suggest only one, and that 
in Leviticus xxvi, 39. Instead of reading ‘‘They who are 
left of you shall pine away for their iniquity in the land of 
your enemies,” he would alter the pronoun and make it 
read “‘in the land of their enemies. 

This emendation, however, had already engaged the 
attention of our Norzi, and was rejected in his Biblical 
annotations known by the name of ‘‘Minhat Shai.” 

Truly, when we consider with what religious zeal, nay, 
conscientious scrupulousness, our teachers have striven 
that the holiest heirloom bequeathed by the fathers, that 
which constitutes our only riches, our guide, our comfort 
and our hope, be kept uninjured, it could not have happen- 
ed otherwise than that the writings of the Arch-prophet 
should continue faultless. The marginal readings prove, 
furthermore, according to some, the pious fear with which 
our critics and sages—unlike the Samaritans in the license 
they took—guarded the holy original, not daring tolay a hand 


* In consulting Luzzatto’s version of the Pentateuch I noticed that 
he had accepted the emendation, possibly to make it agree with the 
context and with identical expressions before and after. So has Reggio 
and so have other Italian translators, greatly to my surprise. For, I 
am bold enough to say, that without intimating the necessity of altering 
the passage even thus slightly, it might have remained as it stands, and 
have done no violence to the genius of the Hebrew language, especially so 
because in verse 34, Moses writes, ‘‘ You wi!l be then in the land of‘ your’ 
enemies.’’—(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 127 


thereon, even when an error of the amanuensis was ap- 
parent. So that leaving the text as it was found, they con- 
fined themselves to noting in the margin the reading which 
they deemed the more correct. 

It is noteworthy, in this respect, that in proportion to 
the extent of the writings, such marginai emendations are 
much less in number throughout the Pentateuch, than 
through the other books of the sacred Canon. 

And in connection with this subject, .it may here like- 
wise be fittingly mentioned that among the so-called various 
readings of the Palestinian and Babylonian schools, namely, 
some discrepancies between the manuscripts of the one 
and those of the other, there can be found only one in re- 
lation to the books of Moses.* 

As to the disagreements between Asher and Naftali, 
they apply exclusively to punctuations, and never to words 
or even to the letters.? 


t The differences mainly consist in some particles capab.e of being 
interchanged without materialiy affecting the sense. The Palestinian 
school has, however prevailed, and I think all books are now printed 
accordingly. R. Elijah Bahur, of whom I spoke in a former note, writes 
that he did not find even a single difference between the two schools 
regarding the Pentateuch.—(Translator). 

2 Ben Asher and Ben Naftali are said to have lived in the 11th 
century, and to have disagreed respecting some vowel points, accents, and 
other grammatical niceties. The former appears to have drawn to 
his side the most accredited among our Rabbis. Maimonides makes 
particular mention of Ben Asher, and declares that because he had spent 
a long time in Jerusalem in order to form the ripest judgment as to the 
manner in which the scroll of the Law should be written and because he 
showed himself very precise and accurate he was deserving of being 
relied on. Any more light thrown upon the history and influence of 
these two Masorites, would be very welcome to the lovers of Hebrew 
literature, and I seek it at the hands of my learned colleagues. I can- 
not put any faith, however, in the statement of Yahia in his “‘Shalshelet 
Hakkabbalah”’ that they claimed descent from the tribes of which they 
bore the names. But whosoever they may have been, their efforts in 
examining with such extreme care the sacred text to keep it free from 
the slightest flaw, command our thanks. Indeed, when we think of 
the labor of the Masorites in general—unnecessarily minute as some 
may consider it—we cannot but be struck with wonder at the herculean 


128 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Now that I have sufficiently proved—as I think—by 
critical reasonings the genuineness of the sacred text of 
the Pentateuch, it behooves me, according to rule, to 
speak of its hermeneutical interpretation. I must establish 
the bases, the principles and standard, by which to be guided 
in seeking to arrive at a correct understanding of the 
heavenly volumes. | 

At the very root of Scriptural hermenuetics there 
stands, beyond all doubt, tradition. The holy books are 
written in a language dead already for many centuries; 
a language which is no more the vernacular of any known 
people. Consequently, our acquaintance with it can only 
proceed from the teachings handed down by the ancients 
and orally preserved. Without such teachings, even the 
reading of those holy books would be an impossibility, since 
it is from tradition that we have become conversant 
with the sound of the letters of the alphabet. 

This constitutes the argument used by Hillel, the elder, 
when he wished to set to rights the mind of the idolator, who, 
in embracing Judaism, had determined to lay aside the oral 
Law. He admitted the applicant as a proselyte and began 
to offer some instruction. At the first lesson, he showed the 
alphabet in the regular way; on the morrow he inverted the 
order, and gave the letters a pronunciation different al- 
together from that of the preceding day. The new pupil 
noticed the change, and asked whether his preceptor was 
not reversing the previous teaching. ‘‘You_ perceive,” 
answered Hillel, ‘‘that by the bare reading of the Written 
Law you cannot learn unless you put faith in my sayings. 
You should then depend on me also when I explain what has 
been received traditionally’’ (Shabbat 31a). 

True: time has rendered our knowledge of the ora] 
interpretation of words imperfect. Our own classica] 
writers concede this; nay, the Talmudists tell us so,? but 


task they performed to the very best of their abilities, so that the vol- 
umes we cherish should not be corrupted in the course of ages.—(Trans- 
lator). 

t With a candor and humility worthy of all praise, the sages of the 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 129 


that does not imply, as Father Morino insinuates, that we 
do not at all possess any exact notion of the sacred language. 
On the contrary, the sincerity which our predecessors evinc- 
ed in admitting their doubts of the precise value of several 
terms, proves their positive acquaintance with all others. 
In fact, reason suggests that all expressions relative, at 
least, to the Divine behests, which our nation practised 
without interruption, ought to be considered as distinctly 
understood by us in their every bearing. Thus, by way of 
illustration, as our progenitors even abstained from cer- 
tain viands, from the wearing of certain garments, and si- 
milar things; and as they constantly exercised certain re- 
ligious ceremonies, therefore all unprejudiced thinkers 
should rest satisfied that only in that sense, and in no other, 
were those expressions conveying the knowledge of such 
precepts always understood. So that, at all events, we 
possess a sufficient practical knowledge of our holy tongue. 
He who should insist on denying us an acquaintance with 
the term Hamez (leaven,) and Mazzah (unleavened cake) 
Zemer (wool), and Pishtim (linen), words connected with 
observances followed from time immemorial, would display 
an unsound mind. Yet, he may with reason deny us a clear 
comprehension of some of the terms, describing the precious 
stones which shone on the breast-plate of the high-priest, 
or of various trees mentioned in the Bible; whether Berosh 
is ‘‘Pine,” Tidhar ‘‘Cypress,”’ or plants of another kind. 

In placing tradition at the basis of Scriptural hermeneu- 
tics, I did not intend to intimate that when explaining the 
Divine writings, we must follow religiously and exclusively 
the sense given them by the revered Sages of the Mishnah 


Talmud unhesitatingly confessed that they had forgotten the meaning 
of several Biblical words, and that often mere chance brought the knowl- 
edge thereof back to their minds. All will remember how, at a period 
of our history in which the Hebrew language was going into disuse to 
be superseded by the Aramaic, some expressions of the maid-servant 
of Rabbi Judah, the compiler of the Mishnah, taught the signification of 
terms met in the books of the Prophets and the Hagiographa. The 
reader may be referred to treatise Rosh Hashanah (26 a-b) for a full 
discussion of this subject—(Translator). 


130 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


and Talmud. No: such a notion would frequently lead 
astray. Thisis, of course, obvious to every understanding, 
so far as it concerns historical narratives, which the Talmud 
presents allegorically. Our most classical commentators, 
Nachmanides, Rashi, Kimchi, have cautioned us against 
falling into a misapprehension of that kind. But the same 
remark is not less applicable to passages having reference 
to tenets, obligations and prohibitions, and even to doctrines 
and beliefs. And notwithstanding that this topic properly 
belongs to dogmatical hermeneutics, I find myself obliged 
before I proceed with the regular exposition of the sacred 
books, to elucidate it. 

I will commence my illustration by alluding to the 
method chosen by the Rabbis to support a belief, and then 
I will pass on to speak of that which has a bearing on laws 
and rites. 

The dogmas, which the bulk of our nation has professed 
at all times are, and must undoubtedly be deemed, sacred 
and true. Not so, however, respecting the proofs which 
our Sages advance in corroboration thereof. For example, 
a great number of prophecies from Isaiah are interpreted 
in the Talmud as alluding to the Messianic era, whereas our 
most orthodox expositors connect them with quite different 
periods. Indeed, Albo in the fourth treatise of his ‘‘ Book 
of Creeds,’” makes mention of a R. Hyam Galippa, who in 
a pamphlet entitled ‘‘A Letter on the Redemption,”’ endeav- 
ored to show that in none of his predictions did that in- 
spired writer have the Messiah before his mind. 


t Already as early as the ninth century, the idea that prophetical 
predictions had received their fulfillment during the existence of the 
First and Second Temple, seemed to have counted many followers. 
For, Rabbenu Saadya Gaon tries strongly to argue against it in his 
‘““Emunot we-De'ot.’’ But whatever opinion may be held touching 
that which the son of Amoz glowingly penned to warn and to console 
his contemporaries and successors, certain it is that the realization of 
the grandest of all predictions, that with which his second chapter opens, 
and which Micah reproduced, has not yet been witnessed. Only when 
“nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall not 
learn war any more,” when diplomacy will work out fraternization, and 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 131 


Albo does not, on that account, bring any charge against 
the writer of the epistle, but he rather dwells considerably 
on the point under discussion, to demonstrate that inter- 
pretations of that kind are not antagonistic to orthodoxy.’ 

So also the Talmudists in the eleventh chapter of treat- 
ise Sanhedrin, produce in favor of the dogma of resurrection, 
many passages which are taken by our best commentators 
in a totally different sense. Let what I have said suffice 
to demonstrate that in matters of belief the means for sup- 
port to which the Rabbis resorted cannot be taken as a real 
evidence of its truth. I will now seek into that which re- 
lates to practices, laws. and precepts. 

The rule that whenever a disparity of view exists 
among judges, the decision should be pronounced according 
to the opinion of the majority, is, beyond doubt, very just 
and indispensable. Now it would seem as if the Sages 
of both the Mishnah and Talmud had derived that principle 
from the concluding portion of the sentence in Exodus 
xxiii. 2, namely: “Ahare rabbim {fehatiot;’ though the 
real signification of those words,—as several wise expositors 
attest, and as the very position of the distinguishing ac- 
cents prove still more,—is far from supporting it.? 


not selfish aggrandizement, we shall see the confirmation of what we have 
been promised. ‘Out of Zion’’—our national capital,—‘‘instruction 
shall issue forth’, and ‘‘out of Jerusalem’’— the seat of our reconstruct- 
ed Temple,—‘“‘the word of the everlasting Lord.’”’-—(Translator). 

* Hebrew scholars know that Joseph Albo composed the celebrated 
“Sepher ‘Ikkarim’ in the 15th century, to controvert the opinion of 
Maimonides that the Jewish religion has thirteen creeds for its foundation, 
Admitting the belief in the restoration of the outcasts of Judea to their 
former state, under the leadership of a Messiah, Albo contends, neverthe- 
less, that Judaism proper rests solely upon three cardinal principles, 
namely, the existence of one God, revelation, and accountability for 
our deeds.—(Translator). 

2 The sentence runs literally thus, ‘Thou shalt not be after many to 
do evil, and thou shalt not testify about a quarrel to incline after many 
to pervert’’ (judgment). As Luzzatto observes, nothing is here plainly 
stated from which the principle that ‘‘the majority rules” can be deduced. 
Still, it may be evolved from the first part of the sentence, for, as we are 
cautioned against following a multitude to do wrong, we may infer- 


132 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


We are then forcibly led to have recourse to a principle 
accepted, with one accord, by our theologians, and that is, 
that the teachers of our people were wont to base such laws 
and regulations, as the fathers had unerringly handed down, 
upon some Biblical text. They did not do so, under the 
impression that the Scriptures in those particular instances 
favored the tradition, but simply because the texts served 
to fasten the decisions in the mind of the disciples—becom- 
ing aids to memory—and probably also, in order to enhance 
the value of the traditions in the sight of the commonalty 
who might have denied them the importance to which they 
are entitled, unless shown that Holy Writ could be cited in 
their support. 

It is in this sense that the Talmudists themselves often 
conclude their tuition, by declaring that the sentence is 
merely an Asmachta (a slight support). 

The position of vowel points and distinguishing ac- 
cents,t which, in ancient times, was taught to children 
between the ages of five and ten to enable them to read cor- 
rectly, is to be considered also among oral traditions. 

In like manner as the lapse of time, migrations and 
persecutions gave rise to doubts and controversies res- 
pecting oral traditions which pertain to the sacred language 
proper, so the same causes produced identical effects re- 
garding Biblical accentuations. For that reason we notice 
in the Talmud a degree of uncertainty and a considerable 
disparity of opinions on this subject. In treatise Kiddushin 
(30a) the question is raised about the right word forming 
the middle of the whole number of words contained in the 
Pentateuch, and there the candid acknowledgement is 


entially learn that we should side with it to do right. In this manner, 
ibn Ezra and others have sought to account for the Rabbinical dictum, 
based on the words ‘‘Ahare rabbim lehattot.’ That the expression 
popularly conveyed the idea of passing judgment according to the decla- 
ration made by the majority is very evident from the paraphrase of 
the proselyte Onkelos, who translated it ‘‘Batar Sagguie Shalem dina,’’ 
viz: “‘after the largest number complete the sentence.”—(Translator). 

t Neginoth, as the Israelites of the German ritual call them, or 
Te‘amin, as they are termed by the Sephardim.—Translator. 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 133 


made that the Rabbis could not exactly tell even the division 
of sentences; for a Scriptural passage, which in Babylon was 
read without any pause, the Palestinian Jews recited as 
if divided into three distinct sections. Furthermore, a 
renowned Sage inquired of another whether a certain term 
was to be understood in the masculine or in the feminine 
gender (‘Abodah Zarah 29b).t And again, whetheran expres- 
sion employed in Exodus, xxiv, 5, was to be applied in a 
general or in a special sense, (deeming it ambiguous). In 
short, the Sages confessed that in five or six instances they 
could not decide where the accent properly belonged, so 
_that the sentence might be readily understood, without 
presenting any uncertainity. 

Such doubts or disputes, however, were removed after 
the age of the Talmudists by the “‘Punctuators,”’ or authors 
of the points, who, guided by tradition and by a bright and 
very keen understanding, invented the signs which serve 
as vowels, together with the prosodical marks (for chanting) 
and attached them to the text of all the sacred books; a 
grand work worthy of admiration. Hence in seeking to 
explain the original, we should pay the greatest deference 
to the vowels and accents, studying their position carefully. 

In fact, we perceive that our best commentators often 
bring forth the authority of the ‘ Punctuators,’’ and some 
expressly recommend to keep it in view as a standard. So 
Ibn Ezra at the commencement of his ‘‘Mozene Leshon 
ha-Kodesh,’’ uses this expression, “‘Let me advise students 
to follow closely the authors of accentuation, and to discard 
any exposition at variance with their arrangement.’’ The 
same writer, towards the end of his ‘‘Sepher Zahot,” 
uttered this sentiment: ‘‘He who taught us the accents of 
pause, could not have been in error—notably so if Ezra 
be recognized as the inventor thereof—for really the ori- 
ginator of the rules of accentuation has not an equal in 
knowledge, since we see how, throughout Holy Writ, he has 
marked the pause wherever it belongs.” 


* All know that the vowel-points often determine the gender.— 
(Translator). 


134 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


So also in the beginning of his commentary on Isaiah 
he says: “‘An essential rule is to take the prosodical signs as 
a guide.’’ The famous Rashi repeatedly alludes to the 
vowel-points and cantillation marks as authoritative. 
Thus, commenting on the opening pages of Ezekiel, he 
owns that had he not noticed the Zakeph Gadol, (a dividing 
accent, anwsering to the English colon,) he would not have 
known how to explain the sentence. 

But notwithstanding that the authority of the ‘‘ Punc- 
tuators’’ is really deserving of the highest respect and con- 
sideration, still it is not infallible; nor is it absolutely in- 
contestable, so far as it regards Biblical Hermeneutics. 
Witness, the celebrated Kimchi, who, in his comment on 
the twelfth chapter of Hosea, unequivocally says, ‘“‘The 
meaning of the text does not always agree with its pun- 
ctuation.’’ This principle is clearly carried out by the 
practice of our most accredited expositors both among the 
ancients and moderns. There cannot be met a single one 
who did not, occasionally, offer an explanation jarring with 
the position of the vowel-points or, at least, with the 
cantillation signs 

Here are some examples: 

One of the Geonim'—so writes Ibn Ezrain the beginning 
of his ‘‘Sepher Mozenayim,’’ says that in ten instances 
Biblical verses, separated in the text, are joined together 
in their sense. 

Rashi to II Samuel xii, 30, prefers the word Mzlcom to 


t Presidents of the Academies, flourishing in Persia, from about the 
7th to about the 11th century of the vulgar era. The title ‘‘Gaon”’ is 
of uncertain origin. It cannot, I think, be considered Hebrew; for, that 
word is usually employed in the Bible in the sense of “‘pride,’’ and 
never adjectively, but as a noun.—(Translator). 

[The term Gaon applied to the heads of the academies of Sura and 
Pumbedita, during the last four centuries of their existence, is probably 
an abbreviation of “Geon Jacob” (Psalms xlvii.5), the name by 
which the largest Yeshibah in any community in Palestine and Babylon 
(and perhaps also in Egypt) was known. (see J.Q.R., new series, I, 
55). H. Malter suggests that the tittle is equivalent to Excellency 
or Highness (Saadia Gaon, p. 97). [Gl] 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 135 


‘“‘Malcam”’ (their king) as it now stands in the original," 
and attaches this meaning to the sentence: ‘‘ He (David) took 
the crown of Milcom from off his head.” 

R. Moses Cohen to Psalms cxxxix, 14, not minding the 
accents of pause, renders the sentence so: ‘‘Wonderful are 
Thy works, and my knowing soul”’ instead of, ‘‘and my 
soul knoweth it.”’ 


Rashbam (R. Samuel Ben Meir, a grand-son of Rashi) 


to Exodus xiv, 30. “Israel, being on the shore of the sea, 
saw the Egyptians dead”’ and not, “Israel saw the Egyptians 
dead on the sea shore.’”’ Ibn Ezra to Deuteronomy xxxii, 5. 


‘He (Israel) corrupted himself (saying) they are not His 
children”’ (against the prosodical signs which would rather 
favor this interpretation: ‘Is the fault His? No: it is 
His children’s blemish.’’) And likewise, Maimonides, 
Nachmanides, Bahya, Albo, Hezkoni, Abarbanel, Sforno, 
Mendelssohn, Wessely, give evidence of their having, at 
times, departed from the rules of accentuation, and ad- 
hered to what they considered more consonant with the 
text.’ 


t I do not have the comment of Rashi on the ‘‘Early Prophets’”’ 
at hand; but, I suppose, the great expositor had reference to the chief 
idol of the people of Ammon against whom David was waging war. 
“ Milcom’’ and “‘ Moloch”’ are identical, and as the abominable idol was 
half human and half ox, he may probably have been ornamented with 
acrown. I will stand corrected, if my supposition is wrong.—(Trans- 
lator). [Several modern Bible students accept Rashi’s emendation here 
and also in the parallel passage in I Chronicles xx. 2. The same emen- 
dation is made in Jeremiah xlix. 1, 3; Zephanianh I. 5; Amos I. 15. 
While Moloch and Milcom are regarded as identical, there is a difference 
of opinion whether these two names do not apply to different forms of 
worship of the god (Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, s. v. Moloch) [{G]] 

2 Luzzatto quotes copiously, in Hebrew, from each of the named 
writers to support his assertion. I have, in this case, more than in 
any other, as far as J have translated, taken liberties with the original 
by adding words which I deemed explanatory; and, again, by omitting 
a great deal, which entailed much labor, and which I fear I could not lucid- 
ly reproduce in English. I refer my readers to pages 33 and 34 of the 
Introduction, for fuller information on the subject under discussion.— 
(Trynslator). 


136 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


The example of all these accredited commentators and 
theologians sufficiently shows that the authority of the 
punctuators is not altogether unquestionable, while it also 
corroborates the truth of the origin which I have attributed 
to the vowels and accents, against the opinion of those who 
would ascribe their invention to Ezra, or even to the 
prophets.' 


I will now add that a letter by our author, revealing amazing erudi- 
tion and the most diligent research was published in the ninth volume of 
“Kerem Hemed.”’ There he proved that in 150 instances, throughout 
the Bible, the cantillation signs had been by mistake~—probably 
through the ignorance of copyists—wrongly chosen.—(Translator). 

t Luzzatto means that if the important art had emanated from so high 
a source, none would have ventured to set himself against it. Among 
topics engaging the attention of a lover of sacred literature that which 
concerns the authorship of the punctuation and the prosodical accents 
must needs be of great interest. There is not the slightest doubt that 
the Mosaic books were handed down without any marks whatever; 
that they were simply a continuous number of letters, forming words, 
well understood by all, during many ages, while the Hebrew remained 
a living language. According to some authors, Ezra introduced vowel- 
points, to aid his contemporaries, not very conversant with the sacred 
tongue; and they who hold that opinion, quote a passage in Nehemiah 
viii 8, to their support. But the help thus invoked is very feeble, and 
from internal evidences in the Talmud, the truth must strike the mind 
that no accent of any kind was known till after the redaction of both the 
Jerusalem and the Babylonian Gemaras. The first to make the bold 
assertion was the critic I have repeatedly cited R. Elijah Bahur. Of 
course, he found many opponents but as his reasons stood on solid 
ground, he found also many adherents. Luzzatto accepts the ideas 
advanced by the great German Jew, but he disagrees with him respect- 
ing the time of the invention of the vowels. In his ‘‘ Dialogue on the 
Kabbalah,” he treats the subject at great length in his usual masterly 
manner and demonstrates that the art of marking letters, etc., was in- 
troduced not by the Sages of Tiberias in the 5th century, as alleged, but 
still later, by the ‘Saboraim,’ or successors to the Sages of the Tal- 
mud living in Persia. While tracing these few lines, I am reminded of 
a pleasing circumstance connected with the recently celebrated Centen- 
nial of American Independence. Being at the International Exhibition, 
my attention was directed to a copy of the Bible in the Russian depart- 
ment. In it I saw that the vowel points were all placed above the letter, 
and not, as among us, some above, some within, and some under. Then 
I remember to have read what had reference to that curious incident. 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 137 


The Chaldaic version of Onkelos may also be assigned 
a place among oral traditions,‘ for as the Talmud observes 


After a good deal of searching, I met the following in a note by Luz- 
zatto, at the end of the treatise on ‘The Antiquity of Punctuation and 
Accentuation’: In the Crimea another mode of marking the letters 
has been discovered to exist, namely, the signs are all on the top.... 
nor is there any distinction between a ‘‘patah”’ and a‘‘segol.’”’ I now 
regret exceedingly that I did not take notice of this peculiarity, and that 
I could not ascertain where the volume had been written, as it was inside 
of a case which none dared touch.—(Translator). 

. [The so-called superlinear or Babylonian vocalization was first 
discovered in 1839 in manuscripts coming from Crimea. Later other 
manuscripts coming from Yemen having the same system of vocaliza- 
tion were brought to light. In 1894, a third system of vocalization was 
discovered, which is now known as the Palestinian. The exact date 
of the introduction of the vowel system in Hebrew cannot be established 
although it is generally agreed that this did not occur before 500. Levita’s 
arguments in favor of this later date of the introduction of vowel-points 
gave rise to considerable discussions and controversies, the most noted 
of which is that between Capellus and the Buxtorfs. 

Abraham Firkovich (1786-1874) claimed to have discovered 
documents proving the invention of Hebrew vocalization to be of Karaitic 
origin. This contention has been disproved by scholars as have most 
of the other ‘‘discoveries’”’ of Firkovich which aim at enhancing the 
prestige of the Karaites. 

Simhah Pinsker (1801-1864) wrote a work entitled ‘‘Mebo el 
ha-Nikkud ha-Ashuri weha-Babli” (Vienna, 1863), which contains 
the results of his examinations of the manuscripts having the Babylonian 
form of punctuation which were found in the Odessa library. [G]] 

t Luzzatto enlarges on this topic in his ‘‘Oheb Ger.”’ and lays down 
this idea as a logical conclusion at which he had arrived: Since the 
return of the Babylonian exiles to Judea, the necessity for explaining 
the Pentateuch to the people at large, who habitually spoke Aramaic 
had been felt. To supply it, there occasionally arose Israelites well 
acquainted with the text, who prepared a translation of their own, or 
rather a paraphrase, which they recited from memory—as nothing, save 
the inspired volumes, was then allowed to be read from a manuscript. 
In the course of time, the several translations orally given, began to 
differ considerably, and the Roman proselyte, not accustomed to hear 
the same book variously rendered, conceived the thought of making an 
Aramaic version, which, agreeing with the teachings of his Rabbinical 
preceptors, might supersede all others for the purity of language and 
clearness of expressions it evinced. Having undertaken the task and 
completed it successfully, he asked on it the judgment of R. Eliezer 


138 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


(Megillah 3a), R. Eliezer and R. Joshua gave it their au- 
thoritative sanction. In fact the most celebrated of our 
expositors make honorable mention of it, and all critics 
deem it of great weight in defining obscure terms in the 
sacred text. 

And here let me offer a somewhat more detailed account 
of the character of that very celebrated paraphrase; of the 
nature of the modifications which the pious paraphrast 
permitted himself to make therein, and of the spirit per- 
vading it altogether. 

The great Maimonides in his ‘‘Moreh Nebuchim”’ re- 
marks that the righteous proselyte sought mainly to avoid 
with every possible care what might bear the appearance 
of anthropomorphism. Though this is very true, neverthe- 
less it does not account for all the instances in which 
Onkelos departs from the original. I have closely analyzed 
the Chaldaic paraphrase, and I think I may safely establish 
the following, as a leading principle in the undertaking 
of our translator. 

He would remove each expression which might in the 
least, scandalize the people for whom he destined his ver- 
sion, or even startle the heathen who might happen to hear 
it in the houses of prayer, where it was publicly read. From 
that principle emanate all the numerous discrepancies 
between the Chaldaic rendering and the Hebrew text; 
which discrepancies I divide into four clasees, viz: 

1. Altering the text while retaining the sense. 

2. Altering both the text and the sense. 

3. Adding to the text while retaining the sense. 

4. Adding to the text and altering the sense. 

I have then subdivided such classes into various kinds, 
amounting to thirty-two.* 


and R. Joshua—two of the most renowned scholars of R. Johanan 
ben Zaccai. Their approval set theron a sacred seal in the estimation 
of the multitudes, hence from that hour only Onkelos’ translation was 
learned by rote and rehearsed at public convocations, but not till after 
the lapse of centuries was it committed to writing.—(Translator}. 

* Luzzatto alludes to his learned work, ‘Oheb Ger.’—(Tranlsator. 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH § 139 


I will now offer an outline of what belongs to the first 
class only. 

In translating the words “‘ Walk before me”’ into ‘‘ Wor- 
ship me,’’ Onkelos adhered to that which is more congenial 
to the Aramaic language. He rendered ‘‘other gods” into 
“‘people’s false notions,” to exclude the idea of the existence 
of any deity besides the Almighty. The phrase ‘‘The Lord 
smelt the sweet savor,’’ he changed into ‘‘He accepted the 
offering,’’ as the latter sounded more proper, when applied 
to the incorporeal God. Instead of retaining the interroga- 
tive form in the intercession of Abraham for the inhabitants 
of Sodom, he gave it a positive meaning, and said, ‘‘Surely, 
the Judge of all the earth will do justice.”’ Out of respect 
for the Hebrew nation, he did not write, ‘It was told to 
the king of Egypt that the people had fled,” but ‘‘that the 
people had gone.’’ To render the sentence more intelligible, 
he made Joseph say, ‘‘I am addressing you in your own 
language,” and not ‘‘my mouth is speaking to you.”’ 

To dignify the diction and at the same time explain it, 
he preferred to translate ‘‘bemakli,”’ all alone, and not as 
it reads literally ‘‘with my staff I passed over this Jordan.” 
A similar thought induced him to change the expression in 
the case of the erection of the sanctuary; for, where it is 
written ‘‘He (Moses) set up the laver...... and put in it 
water to wash;”’ Onkelos wrote, ‘‘water for holy purposes.” 
And in deference to the oral traditions, he translated, ‘‘ Ye 
shall reckon. ...from the morrow of the holiday,” and not 
‘“‘from the morrow of the Sabbath,” as in the original.? 


* One of the points about which the Rabbinites and Karaites are 
most decidedly at variance, is that which relates to the celebration of 
Pentecost. The Rabbinites, who begin to reckon 50 days from the 16th 
of Nisan, take the word ‘Sabbath’ in the text in the sense of holy day and 
explain itso: ‘Ye shall count unto you from the morrow of the holyday 
from the day that ye shall bring the ‘Omer of the wave-offering, seven 
complete weeks.’ So has Leeser translated, agreeably to tradition, and 
so have all orthodox expositors presented the sentence. The Karaites 
on the contrary, insist that the word ‘Sabbath’ in the text must not be 
construed otherwise than as generally: hence, they commence to number 
the ‘Omer on the Sunday following the second day of Passover, and hold 


140 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


What I have concisely brought forth as an evidence 
of the spirit pervading the celebrated paraphrase, must 
expose to view the faults of several commentators, who 
causelessly censured Onkelos as having exceeded his bounds, 
or who equally without any cause for it, would stretch the 
sacred text, to make it exactly fit the Chaldaic version. 

A main feature also in Biblical hermeneutics is the 
observance of the rules governing the language; that is, the 
grammar. This may be divided into two parts. The 
first principally belongs to punctuations, distinguishing the 
varying value of the different vowel-points; the occasional 
interchange of one with the other; the nature of the Dagesh 
and Raphe; the principal cantillation signs which affect 
a separation and produce various pauses, and the subordi- 
nate or secondary.' All this depends therefore on the 
authority assigned to the punctuators; and it generally 
constitutes the kind of grammar taught at the schools, and 
treated by the greatest number of authors in their works. 
It has been called ‘‘grammatical science.’”” We find no 
trace of it in the Talmudic age, because the vowel points 
had not then been invented. 

The second part is intimately connected with the 
Hebrew language, regardless of the system of punctuation. 
It explains the power of servile letters, and that of different 


the ‘feast of weeks’ always on the day after the seventh Sunday. 
However, that ‘Sabbath’ has been used in the Bible to signify also 
‘holiday,’ or rather according to its primitive definition, ‘cessation 
from labor,’ admits of no doubt. Thus, for instance, every revolving 
seventh year was called ‘Sabbatical,’ not because it had all the rigidness 
of the Sabbath, but because no Israelite dared work the ground during 
that period. Consequently ,the Rabbinites may rest their tradition 
on Scriptural authority. In this case, I have been compelled to deviate 
from the method pursued by the author. I have briefly produced his 
ideas, in English, wherever he quoted largely in Hebrew. They who 
possess the ‘Introduction’ are referred to pages 35 and 36.—(Translator). 

* Formerly a dash on the top of the letter signified that the Dagesh 
was omitted, and that the letter must be given a soft sound. The prac- 
tice has now fallen into disuse. The cantillation marks have been 
divided into ‘Melachim,’ Rulers, and ‘Mesharetim,’ Attendants.— 
(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 141 


verbs; it institutes an inquiry into various forms and tenses, 
and into the specific effect of the several conjugations; it 
teaches the rules of syntax, whether applied to simple or 
lofty diction, examines tropes, and all rhetorical and poetical 
expressions; defines synonyms and the precise meaning of 
every word. This part of the grammar is called “Lin- 
guistics.”’ It occupies the background in ordinary books 
purporting to give instruction in the sacred tongue. It is 
brought somewhat more forward, but not enough, in the 
commentaries to the inspired books and in lexicons. The 
science of which I speak was not neglected by the sages of 
the Talmud, as a question raised in the very first page of 
that work shows. Alluding to the time at which a priest, 
who had defiled himself by touching some impure object, 
could be considered again pure, and qualified to partake 
of consecrated food, a grammatical discussion is entered 
into with the view of determining whether the word Taher 
in the text is to be taken in a positive sense, signifying “‘he 
is clean,” or imperatively, meaning ‘‘let him be cleansed.”’ 
The knowledge of the first part, namely, ‘‘ grammatical! 
science,’’ is needful, for it proves of efficient help to sacred 
exegesis, giving us an insight into the thoughts animating 
the punctuators, and very often into ancient traditions. 
But the second, or “Linguistics,”’ is the essential point on 
which Biblical hermeneutics principally rests. Among those 
who have lightly touched upon so superior a branch of our 
grammar, we may name, as deserving of distinction, Rashi, 
Ibn Ezra, Mendelssohn and Wessely,? and as successors to 


* It would be altogether superfluous to tell general readers who were 
Rashi, Ibn Ezra (or Abenesdra as the Italians call him) and Mendelssohn. 
The names are household words in Israel. Not so Wessely and the 
other eminent scholars of whom Luzzatto speaks. And yet the name 
of Wessely, or rather Hertz Wezel, or Wessel ought to be embalmed in 
the memory of all who admire bright talents, profound erudition and 
withal enlarged ideas and sterling piety; for, these qualities and gifts 
were the possessions of the author of ‘The Songs of Glory,’ (Shire Tiferet). 
As by this sublime work he endeavored to rekindle the sacred flame of 
Hebrew poetry, so by the rest of his numerous productions he sought to 
awaken a new spirit amoug his contemporaries and co-religionists, to- 


142 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


the last two, the modern authors of ‘‘Minhah Hadashah’’! 
and of the ‘‘Measseph,”’ besides some of the ancients whose 
writings have been lost, for instance, Rabbenu Saadya, 
R. Moses Cohen, R. Jonah ibn Janach, and others men- 
tioned by Ibn Ezra in his ‘‘Sepher Mozenayim.”’ 


Worthy of special mention is the Ephodi,—viz. Porfiat 
Duran, who, in his inedited and very rare ““Maase Ephod”’ 


wards the middle of the eighteenth century. He would stir them up 
to the exigencies of the time, that by joining secular learning to Tal- 
mudical studies they might elevate their social standing. What trials 
did he not endure in his efforts to accomplish this noble purpose? 
(Translator). 


“Minhah Hadashah”’ is the name given to an edition of the Bible, 
with German translation and a brief Hebrew commentary, by different 
authors, edited by Meir Obnornik, Vienna, 1792-1806, in 15 volumes. 
The ‘‘Messaeph”’ is the name of a Hebrew magazine, to which Mendels- 
sohn and Wessely largely contibuted. The writings of Saadya Gaon, 
chief of the Academy of Sora towards the end of the tenth century, with 
the exception of his famous philosophical treatise ‘“Sepher Emunot we- 
De’ot,’’andan Arabic translation of the Pentateuch and of several books 
of the Bible, which have been edited by Joseph Derenbourg, and pro- 
vided by him with a French translation and notes, have unfortunately 
been lost. [A complete list of Saadya’s edited and unedited works will 
be found in Malter’s ‘‘Saadia Gaon, His Life and Works.”’ G.] The same 
fate, I think, was shared by the commentaries of Moses Cohen. [R. 
Moses ha-Kohen ibn Gikatilia was a Hebrew Grammarian and Bible 
exegete, living in Spain in the latter part of the eleventh century. He 
was the first Jewish exegete to give a historical interpretation to the 
prophecies of Isaiah and to give rational explanations to some of the 
miracles of the Bible. His commentaries have not been preserved, ex- 
cept in quotations by other commentators. The late Dr. S. Poznanski 
collected the comments of Gikatilia, found especially in the commentary 
of Ibn Ezra, in his work ‘‘Moses ben Samuel ha-Kohen ibn Chiquitilla, 
nebst den Fragmenten seiner Schriften,’’ Leipzig, 1895, G.] Ibn Janach’s 
“Sefer ha-Rikmah” has happily been rescued from the sea of oblivion 
and published in 1855, together with some annotations by Luzzatto. 
[This formed the first, grammatical, part of his great work, of which the 
Arabic original was published by Joseph Derenbourg in association with 
W. Bacher, Paris, 1886. The second, lexicographical, part of his work 
was published in the Arabic original by Neubauer, Oxford, 1875, and 
in the Hebrew translation of Judah ibn Tibbon, under the title ‘‘Sepher 
ha-Shorashim,”’ by W. Bacher, Berlin, 1897, G.]—(Translator) 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 143 


treated this subject more methodically and extensively 
than all his predecessors. He wrote in the fifteenth century.? 

Of Saadya we have the Arabic version of the five 
books of Moses, printed at Constantinople in Hebrew char- 
acters; then, again, with Arabic letters in Polyglot Bibles. 
All critics set a high value on it, and even the Samaritans 
adopted it for a time. At present they use the translation 
with which Aba Said furnished them, because made after 
the Samaritan text. 

The third principle in Biblical hermeneutics is that 
which stands at the basis of every human operation: it is 
reason rightly used. I will note down the errors (antagon- 
istic to reason) into which people are now apt to fall 
regarding sacred exegesis. 

First of all, he acts very unreasonably who will not go 
a step beyond the plain meaning of words, and this is the 
mistake which the Karaites make;’ for, aside from the 
traditions, it often happens in books of every kind, and more 
so in the holy volumes, that the apparent signification of 
certain terms, is not the real sense they intend to convey. 
Nor does a meaning cease to be true and literal, because it is 
the result of deep reflection, or even of long discussions on 
the context. 


t The EphodiI haveseen often cited. Reggio numbers him among 
the Rabbis opposed to the study of philosophy. His family name was 
Duran. His first name has been differently spelt: Prophot, Priphot, 
Prephot. He is mostly known as ‘the Ephodi,’ (the word consisting 
of the initial letters: }x717 1D'ND 7X, viz “Says Priphot Duran’’,) possi- 
bly because Hebrew authors are not infrequently styled after a work 
which broughtthem into note. So is Eliyahu the Levite called 
‘Bahur,’ on account of a famous production of his pen.—(Translator.) 
[His real name was Isaac b. Moses ha-Levi, Profiat Duran. He 
lived in the south of France during the latter part of the fourteenth and 
the early part of the fifteenth centuries. During the persecutions of 
1391, he was forced to embrace Christianity, but later returned to 
Judaism. He is the author of several controversial works against 
Christianity. His greatest work, ‘‘Ma‘aseh Efod’’, a critical Hebrew 
grammar, to which Luzzatto refers, was published in Vienna, 1865. [G]] 

2 [Illustrations of this assertion may be the following: The Karaites 
deem it imperative to eat Mazzot every day during Passover, while the 


144 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


He who should hold that nothing is needed to acquire 
a thorough familiarity with the Divine legislation, save the 
knowledge of each word separately, would be laboring under 
a very wrong impression. In fact, we hear the Psalmist, 
in the golden age of the Hebrew language that is, when the 
value of each term could not have been ambiguous and un- 
certain, repeatedly beseech the Lord, for an intelligence 
capable of seizing upon the right import of the Scriptures, 
and among thousands of entreaties of that character ex- 
claiming, ‘“‘Oh! uncover my eyes, that I may behold wonders 
out of Thy law.” 

Now, for example, the intercalating of the thirteenth 
month of which the sacred text does not make any mention, 
is nevertheless positively embodied in the law itself. For 
it sets the Passover fixedly at a solar period, namely, the 
‘““Hodesh Abib”’ (Spring). And yet the festival is demon- 
strably connected also with lunar changes. It must be 
at full-moon. The noun ‘“‘Hodesh”’ can only refer to the 
moon which has a renewal of phases, while the sun (causing 
““Abib,” or the ripening of grain) cannot be said to have 
months except in a conventional way, as civilly agreed upon. 
Hence flows the implicit commandment of combining in one 
year the lunar with the solar cycle. 

So also touching the expression “‘eye for eye,” and others 
of a similar nature. The law seems to impose the lex 
talionis; still, when it prescribes elsewhere ‘‘Ye shall not 
take a ransom for the person of a murderer,’’ it sufficiently 
shows that in cases not involving homicide, a pecuniary 
fine or penalty was admissible. The corporal punishment 
threatened may have been intended as a check on the opu- 
lent, apt to give rein to acts of violence, though it was left 
Rabbinites understand the command, “Seven days shall 'ye eat unleaven- 
ed bread,” as forbidding leaven and not as a law demanding absolutely 
that we shall make our meals with unfermented bread. So, likewise, 
the Karaites prohibit to themselves any fish that has not scales visible 
to the naked eye, though it may be known that it drops them in the 
water. The Rabbinites consider the ordinance ‘‘all that have not fins 


and scales. ..ye shall not eat.’”’ as excluding only those fishes deprived 
of scales altogether.—(Translator). 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 145 


to the discretion of the tribunals, or rather of the Supreme 
Court to decide in special cases. 

It may, therefore, be established that the genuine and 
real sense of the Scriptures is not always that which appears 
the most literal, but, on the contrary, that the literal is at 
times false and wrong. Any person reading this sentence 
as it stands in the original, ‘‘I will make thy seed like the 
dust of the earth, that if a man shall be able to number the 
dust of the earth, even thy seed shall be numbered,’’ may 
imagine that the meaning is a positive one, whereas it is 
only negative, and it signifies that as none can reckon the 
particles of the earth, so it would be impossible to count all 
the descendants of Abraham. Here, then, and in like 
instances, a double sense is perceptible; a literal, or rather a 
superficial and apparent, and another which is formal and 
actual. They do not at all differ from each other, they are 
precisely identical, but we cannot arrive thereat without 
first tearing the veil that covers the true signification. 

Again: he would act against reason, who should strive 
to find in the sacred code things which God did not purpose 
to teach us. The law was destined to give light regarding 
duties, and not about the secrets of nature. Thus our 
many philosophising doctors went astray, when they ar- 
bitrarily attached to Holy Writ philosophic notions pre- 
vailing in their time; when, for example, they found in the 
first sentences of Genesis, the four elements of Aristotle, be- 
sides matter and form, represented by the expression 
“Tohu Vabohu.’”! With the pious intention of serving 
the cause of religion by proving that it agreed with the 
leading philosophy of the time, they might have injured it, 
if truth could ever be injured. For, as in later ages, the 

t Maimonides, in his Moreh Nebuchim speaks at some length on 
this topic, and Gersonides, in his Milhamot Hashem, follows in the 
wake of the great Cordovan Sage. He tries to draw the ancient Rabbis 
to his side in this explanation. Tohu, like Tav, means a mark, viz., a 
form, and Bohu isa compound word, Bo-Hu,viz., In-It (there isa matter). 
After all, other men can be met besides the despised Talmudical casuists, 
who strain the sense of words to make them suit their fanciful theories.— 
(Translator). 


146 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


vanity of scholastic philosophy was exposed, it would have 
been a logical sequence that the holy books with which its 
doctrines had been connected, should, like them, have 
fallen into discredit. This circumstance shows that great 
circumspection ought to be exercised in applying to the 
sacred pages philosophical or scientific notions, which 
may, at times, be erroneous, and respecting which it is not 
the office of religion to offer us tuition. 

He is guilty of presumption, who labors hard to twist 
the meaning of such passages, as present to him ideas which 
do not tally with his own, though they be not in themselves 
repugnant to reason and absurd. This fault they commit 
who apply an allegorical sense to the narrative of the sin 
of our first parents, notwithstanding that it has nothing in 
it metaphysically impossible.t' It is a grievous fault, be- 
cause they dare pronounce a judgment on the Divine will, 
as if the Supreme Being could not wish that to which our 
reason objects. What could be said of the physicist who 
denies the power of the magnet, or the astounding properties 
of the electric eel of South America, because such phenomena 
are inexplicable to human understanding? That a thing 
has been very clearly expressed in the sacred text, without 
implying self-contradiction, ought to be quite enough to 
induce us submissively to accept it, not waiting to do so, till 
our reason is fully satisfied therewith; our reason, so 
unapproachably distant from that of the Supreme Lord, 
as Isaiah (Iv.9) tells it: ‘‘As the heavens are higher than 
the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My 
thoughts higher than your thoughts.’”? 


t Almost all commentators of the Spanish school, and some 
of the Italians also, have given the transaction related about 
Eve and the Serpent a figurative signification. Maimonides, in the 
second chapter of the first part of his Moreh, in answer to a sensible 
question put to him, displayed admirable sagacity in expounding that 
most perplexing of all Biblical chapters, and I think he has, partly 
at least, succeeded in explaining away the idea that man’s first diso- 
bedience was rewarded with the gift of knowledge.—(Translator). 

2 With the most profound respect for Luzzatto, the passage chosen 
can scarcely be applied to the question at issue. Who will dare to say 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 147 


Furthermore: Two different modes of proceeding in 
our Biblical researches must be distinguished from one an- 
other. The first is to endeavor to discover the exact mean- 
ing, the second to give it a plausible reason. The former 
must, by all means, have the precedence, for it isour bounden 
duty to comprehend the written word. The latter must 
hold a subordinate position, and be contented to receive 
rule and direction from the other, because while this has a 
clear and distinct object—namely our performance of the 
law, through our comprehension of its precepts—that looks 
for an aim which may not be reached. In matters ofa 
divine origin, to know the why and wherefore is not absolutely 
necessary, and not infrequently it is impossible to fathom 
the intent of the heavenly legislator. He who would assume 
to discover the motive for every thing recounted in the 
sacred code, would stop short in its very first page. The 
creation is perforce, and will ever remain, inexplicable to 
human reason. Man must accept the dogma, that all has 
emanated from a Supreme Intelligence, under penalty of 
stooping to receive a dogma still more inconceivable, nay, 
absurd, that is, the eternal and fortuitous existence of all 
that we know as creatin. 


The same may be said with regard to the order followed 
by the inspired writer in the narrative, and likewise touch- 
ing the frequent repetitions he made. To assign a reason 
for all of that, is praiseworthy, whenever it can be accom- 
plished without distorting the genuine sense of the text; 
but it is not indispensable, nor can human intelligence al- 
ways succeed in the attempt. The best plan suggested to 
the mind would be to let such peculiarities go unexplained 
rather than allege motives affording little satisfaction, or 


that all the Creator does should be put into the crucible of human undere 
standing, and tried whether it accords with our faulty standard! But 
inasmuch as the Pentateuch is a book granted to the House of Israel 
for their guide through life, it should be, as far as possible, explained in 
a manner acceptable to reason. Thus might the observance of its sacred 
contents be with greater facility secured.—(Translator). 


148 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


leaving us in a state of uncertainty.* 

Lastly, he deviates from the straight path whoattempts, 
in Biblical hermeneutics, to explain expressions apart from 
the context. He verily abuses the divine word, for it | 
is obviously manifest that a passage broken and mutilated 
can be made to give a sense altogether contrary to what it 
conveys in its entirety, nor is there any error or absurdity 


which by such a process may not find support in Holy 
Writ.? 

And here it is proper to draw a distinction. For, if 
he who explains the various portions of the same subject 
separately, or the several sentences depending on each 
other and strictly joined together, singly, commits an error; 
so likewise does he who would connect with each other 


t Isaac Arama and Isaac Abarbanel, who follow the same system 
in their commentaries, endeavor to account for those peculiarities, and 
in so doing they exhibit a vast deal of ability. But the dictum ofthe 
Rabbis, “‘En mukdam umeuhar battorah,” is borne out in several 
instances. So, for example, we must of necessity admit that the chapter 
which tells us of the marriage of Judah, and the birth of his sons and their 
marriage, belongs to an earlier period, since we see his grandchildren 
among the seventy persons who emigrated to Egypt. That chapter was 
not chronologically put in the right place, because the sacred historian 
chose to give us first some information of greater importance, as the sell- 
ing of Joseph to the Ishmaelites really proved to be. About repetitions 
many have, undoubtedly, an aim discernible to the thinking mind, but 
the motive of a number of them cannot well be ascertained.—(Trans- 
lator). 

2 Such is the method resorted to by the authors of the four gospels, 
in their anxiety to propound unreasonable theories. All the quotations 
from the olden Scriptures are but fragments of single sentences or 
paragraphs, They are so clumsily put together that a mere tyro 
in Biblical studies will detect the inappropriateness of their application. 
But some, more than others, offend common sense. Thus, where Hosea 
contrasting the goodness of God with our national dereliction from duty, 
says: ‘When Israel was young I loved him, and I called my son out of 
Egypt,” (xi. 1) the New Testament takes the second half of the sentence 
and asserts that it alludes to an incident related there to have happened 
during the infancy of the founder of Christianity. So also the touching 
description, by our plaintive Bard, of Rachel, weeping over her chil- 
dren in exile and the joyous promise given her of their return from cap- 
tivity, is garbled and made to predict the doubtful event of Herod’s 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 149 


passages that happen to be in close proximity, but which are 
totally different in their sense and character. 

In fact, in the preceptive part of the sacred code we 
see many laws, which do not have the slightest connection, 
follow one another. It could not indeed have been other- 
wise, since the holy books contain multifarious rules. It 
is then very clear that when two ordinances, dissimilar 
in their nature and aim, come close upon one another in 
the original, they should not be regarded as mutually de- 
pendent, but altogether distinct and isolated. To assign 
a motive for their proximity is, as stated above, a praise- 
worthy effort, but not obligatory on our part. Nay, some- 
times it is beyond human ability, and even dangerous to do 
so, for such researches might suggest crooked and false 
interpretations, inducing us to exhibit laws in a light not 
given them by the legislator, while endeavoring forcibly 
to render analogical, what is obviously distinct." 


cruelty against the male children of Bethlehem. Sometimes the plan 
is more ingenuous in distorting the original text as in the case of Jesus 
having escaped to Capernaum (Kephar Nahum) on account of the ar- 
rest of John, called the Baptist. One part of a verse from Isaiah, in 
a mutilated condition, is hooked to the following verse—which begins 
a new subject,—and to show the glory that the presence of the son of 
Mary shed upon the place where he dwelt, we are presented with the 
following misquotation, ‘‘ The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naph- 
tali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 
the people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them that sat 
in the region of death light is sprung up.’’ (Isaiah viii. 23; ix. 1). 
Instantances might easily be multiplied by scores, but the above will 
suffice to illustrate how through such a method anything can be proved, 
just as Luzzatto writes, and as long before our time, Maimonides said 
to the Jews of Aden in his letter, namely, that by using a sentence 
separated from the preceding and the succeeding, as an argument cor- 
roborative of one’s position, it may even be shown that Holy Writ 
sanctions the worship of idols.—(Translator). 

* Don Isaac Abarbanel (or Abrabanel, as he is also called), a strong 
advocate of the system of finding always a reason for the proximity of 
different Biblical rules, labors hard in his commentaries to succeed, but 
really his ingenuity is often abortive. The reasons he, at times, alleges 
are so far-fetched that they cannot elicit approval. To cite a single 
example: he would make us believe that the prohibition of cursing 
rulers of the nation is next in the original to that of taking usury, be- 


150 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Whenever, therefore, we perceive that the sages of the 
Talmud establish a certain enactment, seemingly derived 
from such a proximity of the sacred texts, or as they term 
it Semuchin, that enactment must infallibly have its origin 
in oral traditions, and the proof resting on the Pentateuch 
is a mere ‘‘Asmachta”’ (a faint support to aid the memory). 
We know, besides, that the system of predicating a rule on 
such a support is not always admitted; for, we read in 
treatise Yebamot that R. Judah restricted it to matters 
relative to the Book of Deuteronomy.' 

Not so, however, with the historical part of the revealed 
books, because all the sections of the same narrative must 
mutually borrow light, and be considered as integrally 
joined in one. Nor is this all, where it happens that the 
identical occurrence is repeated in various places, what has 
been stated here, may be further explained there, agreeably 
to the Talmudic adage. ‘“‘The words of the law are 
poor (brief) in one case, and rich (diffuse) in another.’’”? 


cause people will be apt to let their tongues loose against the judges who 
enforce laws affecting prejudicially their material gain. Being then 
unable to find some relation between that and the ordinance of not de- 
laying to pay the tithes, which follows it immediately, he goes in a 
circuitous way and tells us that it is connected with a precept before it, 
teaching that in dealing with God we should not act as towards our fellow 
men; that while we must be patient with the latter and wait till they can 
repay what they have borrowed, we must be prompt in discharging 
our duties toward the Lord. All that waste of words could have been 
saved by stating the fact that the Mosaic legislation purposed, in a 
distinct ordinance, to lay down the broad principle of obedience to 
constituted authorities —(Translator). 

« For instance, ‘‘Thou shalt not wear a garment of ‘‘Sha’atnez,” 
that is, of wool and linen together. ‘‘Thou shalt make for thyself 
fringes upon the four corners of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest 
thyself.’’ (Deut. xxii., 11,12). The Talmudists seeking some support 
to their teachings from the nearness of those two verses, reminded us 
that though ordinarily the mixing of wool and linen in the same dress 
is not allowable, in the case of a Talit, so called, the rule did not 
apply, so that Zizit not of the same material might be attached thereto.-- 
(Translator). 

2 The very beginning of the inspired volumes shows this with re- 
gard to the creation of woman; for, while in the first chapter of Genesis 


LUZZATTO’S INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH 151 


The same frequently happens in the legislative part, 
that is, a Divine behest is enunciated in various places, each 
of which serves to elucidate the other.? 


To this must be added, that both the sections comprising 
the Divine Code, the historical and the preceptive, may 
occasionally receive further elucidation from the rest of the 
sacred books. For, notwithstanding that these do not 
possess legal authority, because no prophet after Moses 
was clothed with the power of promulgating new laws, or 
of offering new interpretations of those already enunci- 
ated, still they most assuredly present the oldest authentic 
traditions, existing in the days long gone by, even the ancient 
time at which they were collated. Therefore are they styled 
by the Talmudical sages ‘‘Dibre Kabbalah” (Traditions) 
and they are and ought, accordingly, to be looked upon as 
great authorities in unfolding the text of the Pentateuch, 
that is, whenever they do not gainsay it,’ but tend on the 


it is simply stated that God created a male and a female, in the second 
we find the origin of woman related more in detail. In the first, the 
sacred historian desired to tell cursorily that all emanated from a Supreme 
Maker, but that mankind stand the highest in the scale of beings; in 
the second, he wished to point out how the mother of the human race 
emanated from the man, whose companion she became with the view 
of impressing on the mind the sanctity of marriage, and of connubial 
ties.—(Translator). 


t Thus on the eve of the deliverance from Egypt, Moses ordered 
that the firstlings of clean animals be offered, and each first-born of women 
be redeemed. This is repeated several times, but only in the eighteenth 
chapter of Numbers is it explained that the amount given for ransom 
must be five shekels.—(Translator). 


2 The Talmud records that some of the Rabbis would have favored 
the suppression of the Book of Ezekiel, because passages clashing with 
the Mosaic ordinances can be met therein. Where it says that an animal 
which died of itself, or which was torn by a wild beast, is prohibited to 
the priests, it raises the suspicion that other Israelites are allowed 
to partake of such unclean flesh. So where it forbids priests in general 
any woman save a virgin, or the widow of another priest, it stands in 
open antagonism to the ordinance of Leviticus. These passages and 


152 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


contrary, to render its meaning clearer to the under- 
standing. 


others, relating to the sacrificial service, have, however, been explained 
in such manner as to remove the surprising contradiction.—(Trans- 
lator). 


VIII. PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 


Philoxene Luzzatto was born to a father whose name 
is a household word in the world of sacred literature. 
Nature lavishly reproduced in him paternal qualifications; 
and of that the son of the Jewish savant soon became aware. 
For, as each power of the intellect developed, it grew far- 
reaching; while memory retained all it could gather with 
unyielding tenacity. When thirteen years old, Philoxene 
drew towards him the eyes of eminent scholars. Padua, 
to which his family had migrated from Trieste, is an ancient 
city, famous for having been the native place of Livy, the 
Roman historian, and for possessing a university where 
students repair from all parts of Europe. In some of the 
cemeteries,? which doubtless date from a period anterior 
to the vulgar era, several inscriptions upon tombstones could 
not be deciphered. The Hebrew lad succeeded in reading 
what had baffled the understanding of men, who gave the 
city itself the epithet of the “‘the learned.’’ Praises were 
bestowed without stint. Young Luzzatto heard himself 
then acknowledged a genius, by individuals well fitted to 
pass judgment. But, then, he was also faced by an appal- 
ling danger,—self-admiration, siren-like singing one’s facul- 
ties into a sleep which knows no waking. Did he see the 
peril? If he perceived it, he threw down the gauntlet in 
open defiance, for, any feeling save the noblest, was re- 
pelled by his nature. It would have been impossible for a 
lad, who, before fifteen, had mastered Italian and Latin, 
Greek and Sanscrit, Hebrew and Syriac, French, German 


2 1 From a private correspondence with Dr. Isaiah Luzzatto, the 
writer has learned, that his brother, though extremely near-sighted, 
did not spare his eyes, while in the pursuit of a favorite study. His 
devotion to it in the present instance, was rewarded with the decipher- 
ing of ninety-five very old inscriptions at Padua and other Italian cities, 
and with some more, in later years, at Paris. To that literary success, 
Hebrew, German and French journals alluded in laudatory terms. 


154 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


and English, not to feel that the regions of his intellect were 
extraordinarily wide, but he still deemed them unequal 
to his ardent aspirations. Hand in hand would helaborwith 
his illustrous father in unearthing treasures lying deep in 
the mines of antiquity. 


A controversy had arisen among several of the greatest 
of modern Jewish critics, about the country and age of 
Kalir,—a rhythmical writer, whose effusions have been 
admitted mainly in the Ashkenaz (German-Polish) ritual. 
Young Philoxene intently followed the discussion. His 
father had made an issue with a redoubtable antagonist.‘ 
The son came to the rescue. A consummate acquaintance 
with ancient geography led him on. By the Euphrates, a 
city called Sippara existed, and to it the precocious boy 
pointed in support of S. D. Luzzatto’s conjectures. He 
essayed to prove that Kalir was not, as alleged, an Italian 
of the tenth century, drawing his appellation from Cag- 
liari,in Sardinia, but a Persian Jew of an earlier age, as attes- 
ted by the words often appended to his name ‘‘of Kiriat 
Sepher,’”’ meaning, of the city of Sippara; the latter being 
analogous in sound to Sepher, and perhaps a derivative of 
the Hebrew term. It is not the intention of him who traces 
these lines, to argue whether the position taken is unassail- 
able. He simply wishes to set to view the unfolding of a 
mind, brimful of promise, and to illustrate the industry of 
a lad, who was wont to say, ‘‘a sweet recompense will it be 
if I can prove myself the least useful in the field of Jewish 
literature.”’ 


This utterance emanating from sincerity soon found its 
practical application in a work short, but thorough. A Heb- 
rew comment and a partial version in Italian of twochapters 
and a half of Ezekiel, which the elder Luzzatto appeared to 
have reserved as an especial task for his son, evinces, be- 
sides a rare familiarty with the languages employed, his- 
torical and linguistic researches scarcely inferior to those 


* The profound critic and linguist, S. L. Rapoport, late Chief Rabbi 
at Prague.. 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 155 


which have won for his parent an imperishable fame. The 
prophet describes the magnificence of Tyre—then the 
mistress of the sea—the extent of her commerce with 
nations near and far; the rich variety of objects brought 
to her shores; the pride begotten by success, and the grievous 
fall under the all-conquering Babylon. Then follows an- 
other vivid picture of Egypt’s grandeur and of her humilia- 
tion, when reduced to a state of vassalage by the irresistible 
Nebuchadnezzar. The exposition demanded a precision in 
the choice of terms, and such accuracy, in defining countries, 
their products, and their inhabitants, that had it not been 
marked out by one who never prevaricated, as the work of 
his first-born child, it might have been ascribed to amore 
experienced hand. 

But if a shadow of suspicion had crossed anyone’s 
mind, that Philoxene’s learning loomed high because per- 
ched on that of the Titan of philological knowledge—the 
professor of Biblical Exegesis at the Padua college—-it must 
have -flitted away instantaneously; for, Italian journals 
devoted to science bore testimony to the originality of the 
genius of their youthful contributor. 

The son of a polished writer, who reckoned among the 
productions of his prolific pen a history of the struggle which 
made America free; the son of Charles Botta, had ex- 
plored the spot where Assyria once held her dread sway. On 
the eastern banks of the Tigris, at Khorsabad, he dis- 
covered a huge structure, in all the artistic elegance and 
finish with which it had issued from the chisel of the sculp- 
tor, perchance over forty centuries ago. The enthusiasm 
which the discovery created reached its height, when scien- 
tists heard that inscriptions in arrowheaded form covered 
the sides of the edifice. Young Luzzatto shared in that 
ecstatic excitement. From the 15th to the 20th year of 
his age, the study of Assyrian inscriptions became his 
fondest occupation. He felt inspired by the thought 
that he might read therein the language met in Daniel and 
Ezra—the Aramaic—a grand scion of the Semitic stock. 
Balked, were, however, the anticipations of the eager youth. 


156 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


The conclusions to which he arrived after patient labors 
and deep reflection are presented in two volumes published 
at Padua in 1849 and 1850. The firstt which purposes to 
serve as an introduction to another of much larger size, tells 
the reader that the language of cuneiform, or arrow-headed 
characters, discloses not a Semitic, but an Indo-European, 
or, as now called, Aryan descent.? It asserts with posi- 
tiveness that while many are the instances where affinity 
with Sanscrit—in which the sacred books of the Hindoos 
and the Parsees were written—can be traced, comparatively 
few are those which reveal a clear identity with the Chaldaic, 
and its kindred tongues. The author does not deny that, 
according to the Mosaic account, Ashur, from whom Assyria 
derived its appellation, is of Semitic extraction; nor that 
some of the titles borne by Assyrian officers, as Rabshake and 
others, seemed to point also to a Semitic origin, but seeing 
that the manner of writing the language on the discovered 
monuments—from left to right—as well as its construction 
and etymology, agrees with the Sanscrit, he is led to differ 
from the French, German and English savants, who claim 
for it a Semitic lineage. Then with an array of amazing 
erudition, Luzzatto proceeds to analyze at some length, 
historical names in support of his theory. He holds as a 
firm opinion, founded on philological and ethnological re- 
searches of five years’ duration, that the primitive inhabi- 
tants of the land by the Tigris, were Semitic, but that very 
early an incursion of foreign tribes, likely from Turkestan, 
wrought an entire change in the country. The invaders 
belonged to what is termed Indo-European races. Some 
tribes settled in Assyria, became rulers, and spread their lang- 
guageand beliefs, to thealmost total exclusion of the tongue 
and practices of the aborigines. Others, journeyed further, 
passing over to Asia Minor, Then, crossing the Mediter- 


t “Le Sanscritisme de la Langue Assyrienne’’ (Padua, 1849) and 
“Etudes sur les Inscriptions Assyriens de Persopolis, Hamadan, Van, 
et Khorsabad”’ (Padua, 1850). [G] 

2 Aryans appears as the name denoting the Medes, Persians, and 
possibly, other tribes of antiquity. 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 157 


ranean to Europe., transplanted into that continent their 
religious ideas, their manners and speech. This theory 
young Luzzatto works out more fully in the second volume, 
which he, again, divides into two parts. Taking for his text 
mainly the inscriptions on edifices found in Persepolis, he 
begins by defining the meaning of every word relative toa 
deity, toa king, or toa country; goes on critically explain- 
ing the whole contents by the aid of other inscriptions with 
which he had made himself acquainted, and concludes with 
an analysis of the cuneiform alphabets and the several 
variations of which they are capable. 

The writer of this sketch must own his utter incompet- 
ency to pronounce an opinion on the scientific results of 
Philoxene Luzzatto’s investigations. He leaves to adepts 
in archeology the task of ascertaining whether they can stand 
the full light of more recent researches. In perusing the 
two volumes of which a very faint outline has been drawn, 
amazement and admiration seized the mind. It could 
scarcely be admitted that those two volumes composed in a 
foreign language’? and treating with masterly skill a subject 
which engaged the attention of the ripest scholars, had 
issued from one just budding into manhood. But that fact 
forced itself upon the mind when it was made to see how 
associations of Orientalists in Germany, Royal Academies 
in Italy, and the societies of Antiquaries in France, tendered 
to that prodigy of learning a seat of honor in their midst. 


So far the Paduan lad had discussed subjects mostly 
interesting to archeologists. Two years later—when just 
of age—a production of special attractiveness to staunch 
Israelites, to Israelites who are proud of their glorious 
past, issued from the press of Paris, as the first fruit of his 
riper intellect. 

In the group of figures standing forth boldly in 
the middle aisle of the historical structure of time, Hasdai 


« Young Luzzatto preferred the French to the Italian and used it 
in most of his works, because generally understood by all the educated 
beyond his native land. 


158 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Ibn Shaprut looms majestic. Philoxene Luzzatto paid 
homage thereto, and led his readers with a sense of gratitude 
to the man who gave the first and strongest impetus 
to Jewish learning in the Iberian peninsula. For, the influ- 
ence he wielded, as minister at the court of Abd-al-Rahman 
III, and of his highly-cultured successor Al-Hakem II,* 
was altogether cast into the scale of our national elevation. 
By it, the refining agencies of science and literature were set 
to work, and the revival of the Hebrew language riveted 
the bond of religious union. 

The circumstance which raised Hasdai loftily, deserves 
to be here recalled as an exemplification of the advantages 
derived from knowledge. Constantine VII, the Emperor of 
Byzantium, shared the ill-will which the Caliph of Cordova 
entertained against the Caliph of Bagdad. Fearing thelatter, 
and wishing to draw closer in friendship to the former, the 
Byzantine ruler sent rich presents to Spain. Among other 
objects, there was a rare copy of the medical writings 
of Dioscorides. Being, however, in Greek, it needed a 
translation, and this—to be of practical use—demanded a 
complete understanding of the original, and of the Arabic 
into which it was to have been rendered. The only man 
able to do it thoroughly was the Jew, Hasdai ben Isaac. 
The performance of that task, brought the translator into 
note, and gained for him the power which he used to the 
noblest ends. 

Formerly, Israelites turned Eastward for the light of 
instruction. From Babylon, or Persia, came the guid- 
ance to a religious path. But the all-knowing Providence, 
who prepares assistance, ere we, His creatures, become 
aware of its actual want, supplied the means by which those 
in the West might not be shrouded in mental darkness, when 
the sun of the East should go down. Thus, long before the 
schools of Sura and Pumbedita had closed, academies 


t So eager was Al Hakem to extend his knowledge, that he ordered 
Joseph Satanas, or Shatnas, to furnish him with an Arabic translation 
of the Talmud. 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 159 


had been successfully established in fair Andalusia. Ab- 
out the middle of the tenth century, a ship sailing from 
Bari—in lower Italy— was captured by pirates.t It 
had among its passengers, four Rabbis, who purposed jour- 
neying to the Orient, then the seat of learning. One of 
them by the name of Moses was ransomed by the Israelites 
of Cordova, and given some subordinate office at the 
Synagogue. On a certain occasion, as he listened in a cor- 
ner of the college, adjoining to the house of worship, to 
the explanations of its chief—a Rabbi Nathan—res- 
pecting the number of immersions made by the high-priest 
on the Day of Atonement, he noticed a huge blunder. Rising 
quietly and drawing near to the teacher, he made use of a 
Talmudical phrase, intimating the mistake. The assembly, 
who had considered the Italian captive quite an ordinary 
person, astonished and pleased at the presence of so eminent 
a scholar in their midst, assailed him with questions, which 
he solved, greatly to their satisfaction. R. Nathan then, 
with a humility worthy of all admiration, declared that he 
would no longer act in the capacity of chief. when another, 
confessedly his superior, could officiate. R. Moses, and after 
his death, his son Hanoch, met in Hasdai an enthusiastic 
supporter of their endeavors to spread learning far and wide. 
That Maecenas of science determined to improve the for- 
tunate incident, which emancipated the Jews of Spain from 
the tutelage of those in the East. Bent upon rendering 
Cordova the focus of learning, he procured books everywhere, 
and drew to himself—by the hope of the liberal patronage 


t The story of the four Rabbis who were captured by pirates and 
later were the organizers of Talmudic learning in Europe and Northern 
Africa has been variously interpreted by historians. The usual version 
is that these were young men from the academy of Sura, who set out on 
a journey to collect funds for the support of the academy, which was 
then in an impoverished condition. They were captured while on their 
way from Bari. The incident happened about 945. This is the view 
taken by Graetz (Geschichte der Juden, vol. V, note 21, II), as against 
Rapoport, (whose opinion our author seems to have adopted), and has 
been followed by most historiographers since. (Graetz, History of the 
Jews, vol. III, p. 208.) [G] 


160 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


he held out—the best talents of variouscountries. Young 
Luzzatto dwells with particular emphasis on the labors of 
two celebrities, who may rightly be called the first phi- 
lologists in Hebrew _ literature. 

For, Menahem Ben Saruk, or Sarug, of Tortosa and 
Dunash Ben Labrat, or Librat, of Morocco, throw a vast 
deal of light on the character and deeds of the champion of 
sacred learning, small as the remnant of their writings which 
the hand of time has not effaced, may be.t| Our youthful 
chronicler, enamored with his subject, could not tell of the 
devotion of the Cordovan Hebrew to the cause whose noblest 
champion he became, without alluding to an episode most 
pleasing in his life. Hasdai’s warm interest in whatever 
related to the state, political, social and moral, of his co- 
religionists, urged him to enter into a correspondence with 
Joseph, the Jewish king of the Chazars—a people of Asiatic 
Russia? by the Caspian Sea, who, about the eighth century, 
had accepted the faith of Abraham. 

Men that deny any and everything of historical value, 
relating to Judaism, branded and condemned the letter 
of the Spanish grandee, and its answer, still preserved, as 
barefaced forgeries. Philoxene with his wonderful ability, 
demostrates that the deepest, most conscientious and most 
patient investigations of modern critics, confirm what that 
correspondence states, in all its details. 

The lovers of our religion cannot regret enough, that an 
aversion of our people to appear as if actuated by a spirit 
of proselytism, has been carried beyond all bounds, so that 
it degenerated into culpable neglect. For, it is really by 


* A poem by each of these two distinguished scholars, who after- 
wards became open rivals, will be presented in an English garb, at the 
conclusion of this article. 

2 The Chazars are described by Graetz (History of the Jews, vol. 
III p. 138) as “‘a nation of Finnish origin, related to the Bulgars, Avars, 

Jgurs, or Hungarians, who had settled, after the dissolution of the em- 
pire of the Huns, on the frontier between Europe and Asia. They had 
founded a kingdom on the Volga at the place near which it runs into 
the Caspian Sea, in the neighborhood of Astrakhan, now the home of 
Kalmucks’’. [G] 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 161 


reason of such neglect, that we have lost even those who 
voluntarily entered our fold. No effort was directed to 
learn what became of “the righteous proselytes,’’ for 
whose welfare Israel’s teachers taught us to pray daily. 

Christianity that, with questionable justice, accused 
our fathers of compassing sea and land in quest of converts, 
has followed that very line of conduct, and robbed us of 
those who had, unsolicited, made common cause with the 
adherents of the truths of Sinai. 

Our failure to retain our own, which every thinking 
Israelite must deprecate, was deemed by young Luzzatto 
an evil which he felt himself called upon partly to remedy. 
His soul overflowing with tenderest emotions early conceived 
the wish to carry to brethren far off the greetings of their 
more favored fellow-believers, and, together with the re- 
animating assurance of their kind remembrance, also their 
culture. Inchildhood he had read that where civilization had 
stopped short, there lived a vast number, who worshipped 
the one God. The Falashas, and their unflinching attach- 
ment to the Law they had accepted three centuries before 
the vulgar era, would often rise before the lad’s thoughts. 
But how approach these brethren, and breathe into their 
hearts the encouragement they supremely needed? In 
the sixteenth year of his age, the son of the Padua professor, 
was informed that a French traveller M. D’Abbadie, had 
settled in Abyssinia. Immediately the study of the Ethio- 
pian language engaged his attention with signal success. 
The bold student undertook through the same Frenchman, 
to enter into direct communication with the wonderful sect 
that for over twenty-two centuries had clung to the Unity, 
notwithstanding that millions of their countrymen willingly 
or forcibly, embraced the trinity; and though in utter ig- 
norance of the existence of any human beings, besides them- 
selves, were still attached to the olden faith. After a long sus- 
pense ample answers followed the anxious inquiries. The 
gratification was unbounded, but so was also the longing to 
gain a deeper insight into whatever concerned the tried 
adorers of the incorporeal and ever-living Saviour, in semi- 


162 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


savage Africa.t A thirst for that knowledge, which might 
enable him the better to perform a contemplated mission, 
led Philoxene out of the parental roof. He travelled to 
Germany, consulted her world-noted scholars and ransacked 
her libraries; then proceeded to France, and where Munk the 
orientalist wrote, and Albert Cohn stood a sustaining pillar 
to Jewish students, every manuscript and printed volume, 
capable of swelling the store of his learning, was put within 
his reach. In Paris, his marvelous familiarity with 
languages—to which he had added the Arabic—unfolded 
before his eager mind treasures, which he made ready to 
subserve his philanthropic object. But alas! in that city 
death marked him out as its rich prize. 

Seven months he bore excruciating pains, rather than 
relax in his endeavors. An operation brought relief, and he 
wrote home light-heartedly. His father should not grieve. 
The prince of Hebraists whose soul was mirrored in the soul 
of his Philoxene, should not yield the sweet hopes formed. 
His oldest son would live and majestically rise in the world 
of letters. But one morning the door of the humble home 
at Padua suddenly opens. ‘‘Father, dear father, I have 
come to ask your blessing, and die in your arms.’’ The un- 
happy parent, terror-stricken at these words, looks, and ina 
face pale and wan, in sunken eyes, in wasted limbs, 
in quickened breathing, reads the approaching end.” 
From the bed of suffering, to which Philoxene took in his 
twenty-fourth year, he never rose again; yet when agonized 


* A book of their prayers translated from Ethiopian into Hebrew, 
has been recently published under the auspices of the ‘Alliance Israel- 
ite Universelle,’’ and the London society of Hebrew Literature, by Jos- 
eph Halevi, who visited Abyssinia ten years ago. [Interest in the 
Falashas has of late been revived through the activities of Dr. Jacques 
Faitlovitch, who visited the tribe several times, since 1904, and succee- 
ded in organizing committees in Europe and in America for the spread 
of education and culture in their midst, by which they might be preserved 
to the Jewish people. [G]] 

2 The description of that sad meeting is taken from a funeral ora- 
tion, —a splendid tribute to the character and deeds of S. D. Luzzatto 
by M. Tedeschi, Chief Rabbi of Trieste. 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 163 


at every pore, his thoughts still flew to the objects of his 
travels and researches. A few days before the spirit re- 
turned unto God who gave it, he dictated the last pages of 
his work on the Falashas,? the people for whom he yearned, 
and whom he had vowed to rescue from the pit of ignor- 
ance. The golden dream vanished like the radiance of the 
setting sun, but he who was urged on by it to the heights 
of knowledge, left a monument which will not pass away. 
Samuel David and Philoxene Luzzatto, ‘Loving and dear 
in life,’’ to one another, ‘‘are not separated in their death.”’ 
“Swifter than eagles, stronger than lions’ —‘‘in doing the 
will of our Father who is in heaven,’’ they are both known 
by their mighty deeds. Both are embalmed in the memory 
of all that honor truth, and cherish the sacred heirloom of 
Israel—Hebrew Literature. 


PoEMs BY DuUNASH BEN LABRAT AND MENHAHEM 
BEN SARUK 


Prefatory Remarks. 


The following two poetical compositions have never, 
so far as the translator knows, appeared in an English garb. 
He has learned in the course of his reading, that there exists 
a version in German, but as he is unacquainted with that 
language, he did not try to procure it. Young Luzzatto, 
however, rendered into French—very literally, for reasons 
of his own— the portion of Ibn Labrat’s poem relative 
to Hasdai, and the whole of Ben Saruk’s. 

The English translator preferred to consult the original, 
made known in part, first by the elder Luzzatto, in ““Kerem 
Hemed,” and afterwards entirely by Leopold Dukes, from 


t This literary production, which suffices by itself to raise the author 
tothe rank of modern savants, was printed seriatim in the course of three 
years in the Archives Israelites, at Paris, and from it in pamphlet 
form of 120 pages, 8 vo. The writer of this sketch hopes to offer to his 
English-speaking coreligionists, at no distant time, some specimens of 
young Luzzatto’s account of much that relates to the Falashas. 
[This promise was fulfilled by Dr. Morais when he published an elab- 
orate article on the Falashas in the Penn Monthly of Philadelphia. Gj 


164 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


a manuscript in Leyden, and reproduced by Philoxene at 
the end of his work, entitled ‘Notice Sur Abou-Jousouf 
Hasdai Ibn Shaprout.”’ 


This translation is freer in its diction, still the sense has 
been, so far as compatible with the genius of the English, 
faithfully retained. No attempt was made at versifica- 
tion, lest the meaning be sacrificed to rhyme. The text 
is metrical, every line divided into four parts, and each 
strophe ending with an identical Hebrew syllable. 


Dunash Ben Labrat, is one of the oldest writers—if 
not the first,—on Hebrew Grammar. This poem ts an intro- 
duction to a book he dedicated to Hasdat Ben Isaac ibn 
Shaprout, the renowned statesman, scholar and philanthropist 
of the tenth century. 


O my mind! learn thou knowledge, discernment and 
prudence, 

Watch the ways of sound judgment, attend to instruc- 
tion. 

Seek thou only the right, and despise what is froward, 

Lest thou be led astray, as the mind of the reckless. 

Ponder well that thou answer all queries with clearness, 

Like pure gold from the crucible, free from alloy, 

O my body! be watchful, rebuke thy desires, 

Lest the whirlwind of passion overpower the spirit. 

Seek not for choice wines, grown more sweet with long 
storage; 

From bright goblets of metal, do the haughty quaff 
them, 

And delight in the sparkle of cup and of contents. 

They feast upon dainties—to pleasure abandoned— 

In fair gardens they sit, by purling streams encircled, 

They exult in their vineyards, in fruit trees heavy laden 

With pomegranates, olives, dates, almonds delicious. 

Envy these not; nor crave for their mansions so spacious 

Or gay coaches to bear thee abroad; nor yet long for 

Fragrant perfumes, exhaling the sweetest of odors, 

Nor sigh for bright fountains, nor murmuring brooklets, 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 165 


Where the fleet-deer, and roe-buck to quench their 
thirst hasten. 

Ever limpid, ever flowing, they moisten the furrows, 

Where flowers will blossom, in hue and tint radiant. 

All of these things are fleeting, they cause but vexation, 

Mortal joy turns to weeping, earth’s sweetness grows 
bitter. 

The beginning is bliss, but the closing is anguish, 

And the hope of a life ends in sadness and wailing. 

Care thou not for the friendship of men worldy minded, 

For they sow but the wind, and they reap the storm- 
harvest. 

Court not for companions, the prosperous wicked, 

Though this night they may revel, to-morrow they die; 
then, 

Unwept and unmourned with the dust they commingle. 

Strive to walk with those mortals, God-loving, God- 
fearing, 

With teachers of good, that direct the steps upwards. 

Give thanks to thy Maker, who gave to His creatures, 

A heart ever feeling, a soul never dying. 

Him who raises the humble, who casts down the 

haughty, 

Thank in rhymes, and in measures, smooth, flowing and 
graceful, 

With songs that are new, and with verses well pondered. 

O sing in high praise of that Chief of the College, 

Who has smitten and vanquished the troops of the 
stranger. 

Enrobed in his armor, of might and of glory, 

He conquered and captured ten fortified cities, 

And lopped off the branch bearing sharp thorns and 
thistles. 

The son of'Radmir with his priests and his chieftains, 


* Young Luzzatto descants on this period, and explains that Hasdai 
having gone on a diplomatic mission to those sections of the peninsula 
held by the Christians, induced Don Sancho I, the ruler of the kingdom 


166 


ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


A warrior and monarch, he brought as a suppliant, 

Bowing down, bending low, before people he hated. 

He drew also the Princess, grand-dame of the ruler, 

Named Tota, the heedless, who governed the kingdom, 

By the force of his wisdom, the power of his cunning. 

Through his skilful adroitness, the charm of his language. 

Nations quake, peoples fear, and the strong melt away. 

Terrified step great kings from their tottering thrones. 

With rarest gifts laden to Spain do they hasten, 

Prostrating themselves at the feet of Hasdai. 

Full of ire are the high, and the men wont to counsel, 

For the mighty are fallen, they fret and they murmur. 

But he conquers them all, by the strength of his 
knowledge, 

The wise and the simple bow alike to the will of 
their master. 

In the East and the West spreads the fame of his learning 

With Esau joins Ishmael, uniting to praise him. 

On the good of his people his mind is bent ever, 

He frustrates evil-schemers, and foes puts to flight. 

A friend to the teacher,? overlooking shortcomings, 

When sitting in judgment, he speaks softly and sweetly. 

In him know the poor and the needy a father, 

In him finds the poet a generous patron. 

Far choicer than gold are the boons of his giving, 

As pure as the onyx, as rare as the diamond. 

Ever bounteous descend their perennial shower, 

In the Winter they fall, in the Summer they cease not. 

The students from him receive light and safe judgment, 

To Sura his riches he sends for the purchase 

Of rare books of learning, from which all may gather 


of Leon, to come to Cordova, and be cured of an annoying disease, and 
thus led him to enter into a treaty advantageous to Abd-al-Rahman. 


His grand-mother, a proud person, who having been regent for her 


infant son Don Garcia, king of Navarre, had acquired undue influence, 
accompanied him, and added greatly to the exaltation of the Caliph 
and his minister Hasdai. 


t He refers of course, to the Christians of Asturias, in Northern 


Spain, always the irroncilable foes of the Moors. 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 167 


The knowledge of holiness sweeter than honey, 

The tenets of verity, drawn from above. 

So seeing his zeal, and his love of pure righteousness, 

I, Dunash, his servant, the least of preceptors, 

Have written a book, that will cause one! to blush for 

The corruption of good, that his words have occasioned. 

To the noblest of princes in mercy and kindness, 

The first part of my work, will rehearse praises due. 

For his name with a brightness refulgent encircles 

My production, and raises it far above others. 

When the rhymes are completed that tell of his 
goodness, 

I shall enter a field, wide, untrodden before. 


Poem by Menahem Ben Saruk, Dedicated to Hasdai ibn 
Shaprout, and Intended to Refute the Aspersions of 
Ben Labrat. 


For the mighty in knowledge of laws we revere, 
For the great Prince of Judah, sing greetings, ye hills! 
Come all with rejoicing, from earth’s furthest borders, 
From all her four corners make haste and draw near. 
Quick, make ready the ways, throw wide open the gates, 
That the faithful, the chieftain, may enter therein. 
His approach is as sweet as the breath of perfume, 
—Ever yielding fair grace to the tribe of Jeshurun— 
And all mouths ever smilling, cry gladly, ‘‘He comes.”’ 
At his advent parched lands and lone forests sing loud, 
What is withered will bloom, and be laden with buds, 
When, amid songs of triumph, and shouts of rejoicing, 
The chief of the college to gladden us comes. 
When he turned his steps backwards to go far away, 
Heavens’ orbs were enshrouded, their brightness was 
dimmed. 
The city most famous, engirdled with beauty, 


t His literary rival, Menahem ben Saruk. 


168 


ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Sat low in his absence; its denizens mourned. 

The needy were desolate, the poor were forsaken, 

They saw not his face, ever beaming with kindness. 

Then the mighty oppressed us—a remnant of Judah— 

In his absence all Israel were treated as bondmen, 

The haughty grew fat, the exactors distressed us, 

Ill counsellors flourished, and foemen conspired 

To swallow our earnings, despoil and devour us. 

They wagged evil tongues, and they roared like the lion, 

Our protector had gone, and great awe seized our nation. 

And the dread and the fear fell on high and on lowly, 

For he had departed, who made the yoke easy. 

Through him we had dwelt in a strange land in safety, 

He had given us light and sustained our exitstence, 

Like a fair flowing stream, fresh and copious midst 
drought. 

The people in chains he restored to enlargement, 

His soul yearned for them and with pity abounding, 

The rod of the task-master brake he in sunder, 

And hindred the cruel from vexing the helpless. 

The All merciful One in His infinite kindness, 

Sent him forth as a healer to those that remain; 

For the breath he exhales carries news of salvation, 

To the Lord’s ancient freedmen, of liberty telling, 

It bears help to the poor, it brings hope to the hapless, 

Recalls to the mind the deliverance won 

When God rescued the slaves from the land of Mizraim, 

Brake the yoke of the Pharaohs, and carried His 
chosen, 

Above and aloft, as on wings of the eagle. 

When He from the heaven sent blessed salvation, 

And graciously called Himself ‘‘God of the Hebrews,” 

Fled the nations before Him, their hosts wide He scat- 
tered. 

With His hand He divided, and held as in bridle, 

Chafing and foaming, the Red Sea’s giant billows. 


PHILOXENE LUZZATTO 169 


The God of all creatures has raised him a chieftain, 

To teach good instruction, enlighten the heedless, 

God gained for him grace in the sight of the ruler, 

Who lifted him higher than noble-born princes. 

In his care the great mission entrusted did prosper. 

His worth is held precious by Spain’s lordly ruler, 

As the offering made on the Day of Atonement. 

Wherever he journeyed none dared to withstand him, 

For the Lord, at, his side, gave him courage and power. 

He conquered with sweet words, with speech soft, per- 
suasive, 

Without arrows or swords gained he cities and countries. 

But a nation accursed, he drew forth from its hiding, 

He brandished his steel and it vanquished the foeman. 

He conquered the wizards, the dealers in magic, 

He cut off the eaters of swine and unclean things 

In diverse ways every opponent he humbled, 

Who carried the shield, or who sped the keen arrow, 

Who thrust with the lance, and who wore shining 
armor, 

Who mounted swift horses—all vanished apace. 

They melted like wax, they were scattered like sand- 
drifts, 

Or hiding, lay sheltered in hollows of mountains. 

On him whose renown grows, whose honor increases, 

The noble-born wait, as the soil for the shower. 

They open their mouths to drink in his wise sayings, 

Which shame into silence the ideas they harbour. 

Distrusting their knowledge, they ponder all mutely, 

As blinded they grope in the light of his sunshine. 

All eager they listen, his good deeds applauding, 

From under his foot-steps the dust they would gather. 

The flow of his eloquence charms many hearers, 

Like the Urim of old, is his counsel considered. 

The fruits of his lips, are as life to the spirit, 

To the bones as the marrow, to flesh as full vigor, 

Of those who are near, who dwell where he holds power; 

For the light of his wisdom surpasses all teachers. 


170 


ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


As for me I do know that thoughts wicked or foolish, 
Lodge not in his breast, neither guile in his bosom. 
For, truth is his portion, uprightness he values, 

A lie, though disguised will not merit his favor. 
Therefore am I urged to refute and prove groundless, 
The boast of the writer who seeks to confound me, 
And raise himself high above all commentators. 
Even the son of Labrat, who perverts what is rightful, 
Who fancies all learning is found in his sayings. 
Regardless, our most holy tongue he abuses, 

Our only heirloom, he makes vile in his purpose 

Of using in poetry strange rhymes and measures. 
Where the Patah he makes to accord with the Kametz, 
Where all runs pell-mell without proper direction. 

I bring cogent reasons , which sanction my statements, 
Let the wisest of mankind judge fairly between us. 

Oh! slight not my words; Oh! look kindly upon them, 
Evince thy benevolence, weigh well the question. 

Oh! listen my lord, lend thy ear, Don Hasdai, 

So may God answer thee in the hour of trial, 

And strive for thy cause, pleasing thus thy well-wishers, 
By making thy enemies—those who would harm thee— 
To vanish and scatter like smoke in the east wind. 
Prolonging thy days, never bearing misfortune, 
Blessing those who will bless thee, and cursing thy foes. 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 





BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
ALATRI, ARTOM, MALVANO, MASSARINI. 


Deserving of preeminence, because of a life unusually 
long and unswervingly devoted to theservice of his people and 
his country, is the now lamented SAMUEL ALATRI.! When 
eighty-four years ago, he first opened his eyes in the gloom- 
iest spot by the left banks of the Tiber, assigned as the 
dwelling-place of the outcasts of Judea, Popedom ruled 
inexorably. Samuel Alatri could not unfasten the iron bars 
which kept his brethren in enforced squalidness, but he 
bent all his energies upon holding the unjustly contemned 
above self-abasement. 

Early chosen to represent the Hebrews in the Ghetto 
he cast about for a religious chief equal to the rising wants.’ 
It was.in the days of my youth that I saw this good man and 
indirectly heard of his project, according to which Rabbi 
Abraham B. Piperno—my revered teacher—should remove 
to Rome. The offer was declined, for to one so beloved 
by his scholars in comparatively free Leghorn, a larger 
emolument in ‘“‘the eternal city”? with its soul-cramping 
restrictions, could have no attraction. Under the Popes, 
the censor’s ubiquity penetrated even into the curriculum 
of Hebrew schools. Thus the Talmud, often burned by 
inquisitorial fanaticism, dared not be studied. Its very 
admission into Pontifical dominions was a penal offence, but 
Samuel Alatri—the Talmudical Jew—had access to the 
Vatican, and if any man could effect a modification of regu- 


« Samuel Alatri was born at Rome in 1805 and died there May 
20, 1889. [G] 

2 After the death of Rabbi Moise Sabbato Beer, who was Rabbi 
of the Jewish community of Rome from 1825 to 1835, Rome was without 
a Rabbi for a period of twelve years. The next Rabbi was Israel Moses 
Hazzan, a native of Smyrna, who was appointed to the office in 1847. 
Alatri delivered the principal address on the occasion of his induction, 
August 21, 1847. Hazzan occupied the office until 1853. [G] 


174 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


lations bearing heavily on the dwellers of the Ghetto, that 
son of Israel could soften their rigor by dint of his acknow- 
ledged civic virtues and the wise dispensation of his wealth. 


He was known as a liberal in politics and as loyal to 
the ancestral religion; he was known to havesung Hosannahs, 
when in 1848 the Nemesis of outraged humanity tore down 
the gates which had held five thousand of his brethren 
immured within horrid boundaries. His despatch in res- 
ponse to the congratulations of the never-to-be-forgetten 
Albert Cohn,! of Paris, on that stirring occasion, mirrored 
forth the whole depth of his feelings. Yet Pius 1X—irre- 
concilable in his hatred against the anti-clerical—recognized 
Samuel Alatri’s nobility of character and thought to praise 
our brother in faith greatly, when he said: ‘‘ The Jew Alatri 
is the best in the municipal council at Rome.”’ 


I met my compatriot again in London in 1850, after 
the reaction which placed his native city under French 
usurped authority. During a visit to the Roselli family— 
one of whose members was the famous Mrs. Sarah Roselli 
Nathan,3 who consecrated her large means to the spread of 
Mazzinian views and works, and with whose relatives he 
was connected commercially and by consanguinity—that 
kind coreligionist of mine called at the Portuguese Orphan 
School, where I taught, to press my hand. He spoke of 
Benamozegh of Leghorn, whose scholarship was making a 
stir, and whom he wished to transfer to Rome. 


What a golden chain of events during the thirty-nine 
years which have since elapsed! Papacy stripped of tem- 
poral power, looks a shadow of its former self. Italy, mock- 


t Albert Cohn was born in Hungary in 1814 and died in Paris in 1877. 
He settled in Paris in 1846 and a few years later became the almoner of 
James de Rothschild and was thereafter closely associated with the 
many benefactions of the Paris Rothschilds. [G] 

2 From 1840 to 1865, Alatri made annual tours to foreign countries 
coming in close contact with the leading Jews in France and in England. 
[G] 

3 Sarah Roselli Nathan was the mother of Ernesto Nathan, sub- 
sequently Mayor of Rome. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 175 


ingly called by Metternich ‘‘a geographical expression,’’ is 
united under a constitutional government. The Jew of 
the Ghetto, fully vindicated, forgets past wrongs to work for 
his country’s happiness, while the uncompromising Samuel 
Alatri, honored among the highest in the realm, heads the 
deputation which tells Victor Emanuel that Rome of 1870— 
the metropolis of resurrected Italy—has lifted up her gates 
to let her chosen king gloriously enter. 


But though seated in Parliament, and raising his voice 
in the hall of legislation to promote the common weal, Alatri 
never allowed his interest in his fellow-believers to lessen. 
When the weight of years compelled some relief to the bur- 
den, and he committed his onerous charge to his son Gia- 
como,’ his ripe counsel was still sought after and reverently 
followed. The keen sorrow which the untimely loss of that 
illustrious son occasioned, soon bereaved Rome and 
Judaism in Italy of one about whom the English poet would 
have sung ‘“‘his life was gentle, and the elements so mixed 
in him, that nature might stand up and say to all the world, 
‘this was a man.’”’ 


More immediately active towards the creation of 
Italian unity than Samuel Alatri, was the Israelite, ISAAC 
ArTOM. Born in Asti—far famed as the native city of 
the immortal dramatic poet, Alfieri—our coreligionist has 
not yet reached the sixtieth year of his eventful life. He 
studied eagerly and learned much, when the religion he avows 
precluded any recognition of his sterling merits; when Catho- 
lics alone found the avenue to public preferment open. 
But the people’s uprising of 1848 that wrenched the sceptre 
from enthroned despotism, supplied Artom with the lever of 


* On October 2, 1870, Alatri was a member of a deputation that met 
King Victor Emanuel when he entered Rome and handed over to him 
the result of the plebiscite by which the inhabitants of the Papal 
territories declared in favor of annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. [G] 

2 Giacomo Alatri, for several years president of the Banca Romana 
and an authority on banking, directed his chief interest towards the 
establishment of kindergartens for the Jewish poor. He died at the 
age of fifty-six, two months before the death of his father. [G] 


176 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


political elevation. He had attained just then his legal 
majority. Responding to patriotic impulses, he enlisted to 
fight the battles of Italian independence. His sentiments 
and the wide-embracing knowledge of men and things he 
displayed at a searching examination; his deep discernment 
when pleading at the bar, attracted the attention of the 
sharp-sighted Cavour. The Prime Minister of Victor 
Emanuel was devising a scheme which would astonish 
the world by reason of its boldness. He would make 
liberated Sardinia—so territorially small—enter into a 
league with England and France against Russia in 
the Crimean war. He hoped that the issue might do 
Italian valor justice, and secure the moral support of the 
Allied Powers in the projected revolution which would 
drive Austria from the peninsula. Cavour took Artom into 
his secret, and submitted to the sagacity of our fellow-re- 
ligionist, plans of paramount importance. 

To form a criterion of the opinion which the Premier 
entertained for his private secretary, one must read the 
diplomatist’s rebuttal of an attack by a clerical paper. 
He wrote: 

“That the Armonia aiming tostrike me, should hurl 
its base insinuations against a distinguished youth in my 
employ, who is altogether adverse to political squabbles 
is what, I am certain, will provoke honest men of all 
parties. If the Armonia thinks to have made a great 
hit in publishing what according to its ideas, I meant to 
keep concealed, itishugely mistaken. Nocircumstance 
in my political life affords me more satisfaction than 
that of having selected as my nearest and most effec- 
tive co-workers in the discharge of extremely difficult 
affairs, first Mr. Constantino Nigra, then Mr. Isaac 
Artom, youths of different religions, but each possessed 
of a mind singularly precocious, of a zeal that does not 
waver, of a golden character. This public testimony 
which I feel in duty bound to offer on behalf of Mr. 
Artom, will assuredly be confirmed by all who know him 
and specially by his superiors, whose implicit confidence 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 177 


he enjoys, not less than by hiscolleagues, who deserved- 

ly respect and appreciate his worth.” 

That Cavour’s opinion was popularly shared, the suff- 
rages which made Artom the first Senator’ of the Hebrew 
faith in the United Kingdom of Italy, irrefutably showed. 
To him had previously been assigned missions in the ful- 
filment of which a singleness of purpose sustained by patriot- 
ism and furthered by broadness of views, was strikingly ex- 
hibited. From Paris, jointly with Count Arese, he brought 
to Italy the recognition of the French government. In 
Vienna, accompanied by General Menabrea, he drafted 
the negotiations which concluded the final peace with 
Austria. In Denmark he served his country as Minister 
Plenipotentiary. At Heidelberg he promoted the interests 
of public instruction with the presentation of broad ideas 
which challenged universal acclamation. As Secretary- 
General of Foreign Affairs, as a leading member at two Inter- 
national monetary conventions, in the field and in the cabi- 
net, in royal courts and in municipal councils, Isaac Artom 
imparted dignity to all his acts. The pen which he dis- 
creetly handled while engaged in seeking the progress of 
his Italy, he learnedly wielded in editing and illustrating the 
writings of Cavour, and in translating from the German 
and annotating important works on political economy. 

Artom’s physical endurance never having corresponded 
to his mental vigor, induced too early a withdrawal from 
labors which he nobly promoted. He is now living in modest 
retirement, but not to luxuriate in the affluence he inherited. 
He bestows of his riches on what may improve his native 
city and his land, while Judaism, which he professes, does 
not invoke his personal and moral influence in vain. A 
child of pious parents, he remembers the covenant, and helps 
to maintain it and to defend its adherents.? 


: Artom was elected Senator in 1877, after having served in a 
number of responsible diplomatic positions at home and in foreign 
lands. [G] 

2 He is well known as a writer of prose, especially on political sub- 
jects. His most ambitious work is a biography of his former chief 


178 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Of IsAAc PESARO MAuroconatTo,! Vice-President of the 
Chamber of Deputies, working whilom shoulder to shoulder 
with Daniel Manin, to keep Austria at bay and preserve 
Venice to Italy; of Maurogonato, the Minister of Finance, 
in times needing abilities most surpassing; of Maurogonato, 
the model parliamentarian, the advocate of the rights of 
Jews to complete emancipation, the illustrious citizen and 
loyal Hebrew, a short biography can be found in ‘‘ Eminent 
Israelites of the Nineteenth Century,” by Henry S. Morais.’ 


But ALESSANDRO MALvANOmust have here an honorable 
mention, however inadequate to his deserts, among the 
Italian Jews, to whom the classical peninsula points with 
pride. His exertions are unlimited in operations which 
immediately concern the economic condition of the country. 
To his wise direction of saving funds is due the prosperity 
of institutions so important and so useful. The compre- 
hensive history of such institutions, traced by his pen, elicited 
the admiration of royal visitors at the Milan Exposition. 
As President of the Chamber of Commerce and Arts his 
unflagging energy upheld public credit in most critical times. 
His journeys, his meetings in the interest of Italy, his 
account of the results of profound studies in the line of 
finance, his sagacious provisions, have proved more than 
once a salvation most opportune and nationally beneficial. 
These facts king Humbert and his cabinet understood 
thoroughly, and therefore they entrusted that Israelite with 
functions which only the rarest talents can succesfully 


Cavour, which was written in collaboration with A. Blanc and is en- 
titled ‘‘L‘Oeuvre Parliamentaire du Comte de Cavour’’. Artom died 
at Rome in 1900, at the age of 71. [G] 

* Isaac Pesaro Maurogonato (1817-1892) was a very prominent 
figure in the Venetian revolution of 1848-49, after the close of which 
he had to leave the country. He later returned and in 1866 was elected 
a member of the chamber, after Venice became part of the kingdom of 
Italy. In 1890, King Humbert made him a senator. [G] 

2 In 1886 Maurogonato gave Venice—his native city—six thousand 
dollars as a nucleus towards the creation of a fund in aid of the defenders 
of Venice and of those who obtained medals for acts of bravery in 
the internal or external defence of Italy. 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 179 


perform. The working classes also acknowledged his eager- 
ness to study their improvement, and they repeatedly 
testified their appreciation of his endeavors and of his writ- 
ings to that effect. By public confession there is scarcely an 
institution, looking to the betterment of the lowly, the un- 
tutored, or the unfortunate that could have dispensed with 
the activity of the Israelite Malvano. 


When in 1881 he sat as deputy in the Italian Parliament 
and received the felicitationsof his fellow religionists, he thus 
addressed the editor of the Vesszllo Israelitico upon that 
topic: 

‘““Among the very many tokens of love and esteem 
that are reaching me from every quarter by reason of 
the high office to which the kindness of the college of 
electors at Turin raised me, those of my co-religionists 
are brimful of notable meaning. Greatly more than 
marks of respect to my poor self, they are a homage due 
to liberty and justice, overcoming intolerance and pre- 
judice. Your authoritative word, sir, confirms my 
thoughts. I do not know whether my powers will 
keep pace with my good intentions, but I do feel that 
very weighty and imperative have become the duties I 
owesociety. I trust in God for the capacity to discharge 
them, and my religion—the target of electoral arrows, 
the cause of medieval imputations—will ever be a 
stronger incentive to make the name of Jew, which I 
bear, honored together with the name of Italian.” 


After thirty years of indefatigable efforts, the fear that 
an exceptionally vast intelligence might raise the Israelite 
to a still loftier position in the government, suggested a 
sinister scheme. It was proposed that Malvano might 
serve his country beyond the sea. Why not make him an 
ambassador to Japan? But the Hebrew mind penetrated 
the object. Hedeclined the foreignembassy. InItaly, and 
among those of his people who feel honored in his honor, 
that venerable co-religionist of ours will continue to live. 


180 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


TULLO MASSARANI—GRAZIADIO ASCOLI—DaAviIpD LEVI. 


A striking combination of varied learning and diplo- 
macy is TULLO MASSARANI. Poetry and painting, eloquence 
of speech and linguistic culture have a devotee in the 
illustrious Israelite of Milan, whose voice resounds in the 
Italian Senate. 

Casually opening a literary album which records the 
sentiments expressed by distinguished coreligionists in the 
peninsula, at the centenary birthday of Sir Moses Monte- 
fiore, I read on its initial page a graceful rendition of a He- 
brew Psalm in Italian rhythm. It was Psalm cxii., wherein 
the inspired bard depicts the success which accompanies 
the righteous man step by step, as he steadily walks in the 
way of the Lord. The verses, in mellifluous language, 
flowed from the pen of Tullo Massarani. They cannot 
claim spontaneity, for in that instance it belongs to the 
author whom a heavenly afflatus stirred, but among the 
riumerous effusions which zeal for the ancestral faith, or 
love of the land that made Israel free, drew from that gifted 
son of our race, the tribute which he sought to pay by his 
version, to the goodly English Baronet, best evinces a mind 
delicately refined. Massarani whose poetical vein runs 
freely, might have bid it trace original lines, but to the 
Scripture-reverencing patriarch, a scriptural ode was 
eminently fitting. The Italian delicately disclosed that 
thought and with it his appreciation of traits which ennoble 
human nature.! 

And like his pen so does his pencil trace lines that 
reveal a heart open to the kindliest emotions. At the 
Paris Salon a realistic picture attracts the visitor. It 
represents a handsome Cyprian slave, whom the jealousy 
of her mistress has condemned to death. Lonely up- 
on a rock she sits, bending low. Her lovely head rests 
on her hand. The doves that she was wont _ tender- 
ly to feed, drink in a silver basin the poisoned water which 


t His translation of Heine’s works in Italian and his essay on the 
great German poet, have made Heine popular in Italy. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 181 


must end her own life. They shall not survive their gentle 
nurse. Who would care for them after she, who fondly 
tended them, has gone? That picture is the creation of 
Tullo Massarani. Another, emanating from his genius, 
and three more of a kindred character, form a group, which 
he has entitled ‘‘Woman’s Odyssey.”’ 

Baron Alphonse de Rothschild of Paris, a patron of 
literature and art, wishing to honor the masterly abilities of 
the Italian Jew, had a work of Massarani on Charles Blanc 
et son oeuvre, issued at his own expense in a magnificent 
edition. The subject of that book had won celebrity as a 
leader in the fine arts at the capital of France, and Mas- 
sarani illustrated Blanc’s efforts commensurately to their 
worth. To that writing which a critic in the Journal des 
Debats praises without stint, the Italian has added two 
volumes upon French art. 

But painting, which the Senator successfully cultivates 
and writes upon approvedly, does not engross all his mind. 
Familiar with foreign languages, he travels beyond the 
Appenines and the Alps in quest of information on letters 
and science, and when at home, he bestows the fruits of 
his researches on institutions, of which he is the patron 
and at which he lectures in choice diction. Because the 
Jewish diplomatist possesses an incisive style, a singu- 
lar honor was conferred upon him. He headed with an 
epigram the document which the municipal authorities of 
Milan presented to Giuseppe Verdi when (after the opera 
Otello was rapturously received at the La Scala theatre), 
he was given the freedom of the city. 

A friend of mine, replying to my inquiry, says: ‘‘Tul- 
lo Massarani owes the senatorial chair, which he becom- 
ingly fills, to a royal recognition of his vast acquirements 
in the domains of human knowledge.’’ But to those who 
believe that the rarest endowments, and the fruition of 
social distinction, may be associated with sincere fidelity 
to the Divine Revelation; to those who value meekness as 
real nobleness, the assurance that the Israelite Massarani— 
though one of the select few decorated as Cavaliere dell‘ 


- 


182 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


ordine del merito civile dt Savoja—identifies himself with the 
humblest among his people; that, while benefitting Italy 
by means of his talents and riches, he does his own brethren 
in Judaism also abundant good, must be gratifying in the 
extreme. 


An Italian discussing a subject which interests him 
deeply may be taxed with partiality when he asserts that 
no Hebrew community had ever arisen at a bound, as it 
were, from lowliness to exaltation, as did that of Italy. 
Still, I feel certain that whoever has followed the current 
of events in the peninsula, since the days that seven states 
misgoverned by seven petty rulers, became a unit, will 
free me from the charge of national bias. He will have 
seen that force of character and intellect compelled that 
unprecedented quick change. 


Without invidiousness, where illustrations arenumerous, 
I may point to GRAzIADIO I.AsCOLIasa very bright evidence. 
The remarkable tokens of regard which king Humbert 
and foreign potentates have lavished upon him, are due 
to merits surpassingly great. That Hebrew was already a 
paragon of learning and high principles when the renowned 
S. D. Luzzatto dedicated to him his ‘Dialogue on the 
Kabbalah’’. Part of the first paragraph in the dedicatory 
address must be reproduced here. It is written in French 
and reads as follows: 


“The rare union of eminent qualities of heart and 
mind; a vast and profound knowledge; a spirit of 
research, fathoming the most abstruse questions; tal- 
ents for the liberal arts; acquaintance with the lan- 
guages of most distant peoples; an intelligent activity 
brought to bear on the administration of extensive 
affairs and unweariedly directed to the progress of a 
religious congregation; this rare union of mental and 
moral qualifications, which at the age of twenty-two 
years has already secured to you the affection and admir- 
ation of every one who had the pleasure of knowing you, 
...allof that, I say, would spur on the muses to vie with 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 183 


each other in celebrating the auspicious day of your 
marriage.’’ 


Luzzatto rightly conceived, that to such an Israelite, 
the dedication of a learned work would signify personal 
esteem in a greater measure than would the customary 
nuptial song.t Who can tell but that the homage paid 
to virtue by the savant of Padua might have proved a 
further incentive to reach pre-eminence. Ascoli has become 
very great. Erudite Germany deemed it an honor to 
inscribe his name on the roll of members in her scientific 
academies. France could not find a man more worthy 
of the Volney prize for the best scientific work produced 
during the year,? than our fellow-believer at Milan. Ernest 
Renan said on the occasion: “‘ The prize represents a becom- 
ing acknowledgment of a whole life, consecrated to profound 
investigations.” 


Its recipient enjoys yet unabated vigor, and new honors 
await him. Not long ago Milan celebrated the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of his connection with its Royal University. 
Then, together with a gold medal bearing a touching in- 
scription by his scholars, gifts from notable institutions at 
home and abroad poured in to the world-famous philologist. 


I wish that I possessed the capacity to clothe in rhyth- 
mical English the splendid poem published at the time in 
the Illustrazione Italiana. The pen-painter pictures our 
Ascoli absorbed in lexical meditations environed by an 
aureole of light. At the rays it emits, hidden meanings 
flash athwart the thinker’s understanding. Languages to 
which unintelligible words belong, assume a clear sound as 
spoken by peoples of antiquity, or by tribes beyond the 
confines of civilization. In like manner, as the astronomer 


t At the age of 16, Ascoli created a sensation in the world of learn- 
ing, by a comparative study of the Friulian dialect and the Wallachian 
tongue, which was regarded a masterly work in a field which had hardly 
been explored by philologists. [G] 

2 The Volney prize was awarded to Ascoli by the Institute of France 
for his great work ‘“‘Lettere Glottologiche’’ (1881-86) which was later 
translated into German, as were most of his more important works. [GI 


184 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


with his telescope unravels mysteries in the sky, so does the 
Jewish philosopher with his deep-searching acumen un- 
fold recondite knowledge and he makes it tell the origin 
of nations and events buried in oblivion. Then the en- 
thusiastic admirer thus addressess Ascoli: ‘‘ Among so many 
weaklings, thou art a model of virilelearning. Among many 
a pilfered, or fictitious fame, thine is a truthfully earned 
celebrity..... Resurrected Italy gives her son glory.” 


But Judaism also prides herself on the newly made 
Senator. The philological analyses which have immor- 
talized his name, have largely been devoted to the service 
of Jewish history. Ancient epitaphs in Italy, where the 
oldest of our congregations, outside of Palestine, took root, 
his illumined vision discovered and deciphered. He pointed 
out their relative ages, and the relative culture of our breth- 
ren in those various ages. He enriched his expositions with 
a fulness of information which challenged the plaudits of 
orientalists in congress assembled. Entitled ‘‘Prince of 
Italian philologists,’’ Ascoli is no more elated by that 
exalted epithet, than by the Senatorship which the country 
he honors by his writings has conferred upon him. Born 
in Gorizia—still a portion of “unredeemed Italy” 
(Italia trredenta)—he lives modestly in Milan, the city of 
his choice. There, one of my Leghorn friends who bears 
the same family name and claims some relationship, sought 
him out in 1881. Graziadio I. Ascoli—the master philo- 
logist—was found at the synagogue, joining his brethren 
in entreaties to Israel’s God upon the Day of Atonement.’ 


A man of letters, a banker, a lawyer, and a member of 
Parliament is Davip LEvI of Turin. His political opponents 


* Moses Reines devotes the first chapter of his “Dor wa-Hachamav”’ 
(Cracow, 1890) to an estimate of the great philologist, which is accom- 
panied by a picture of Ascoli. See also Jew. Ency., s. v. Ascoli died 
in 1907. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 185 


said of him when elected Deputy: ‘‘As Levi is too much 
of a poet to suitably deal in bills of exchange, so he is too 
busy a barrister to do his legislative position justice.”’ But 
despite all adverse criticism, he whom Garibaldi and Cavour 
highly esteemed arose to public favor. 

Before Sardinia had proclaimed the emancipation of 
her Jewish subjects, David Levi had written some valuable 
memoirs on Hebrew education in Piedmont—that section 
of Italy which had given Judaism a Sabbato Graziadio 
Treves, the eminent Rabbi-Preacher, and a Lelio Della 
Torre, the colleague of Luzzatto in the once famous College 
of Padua. But a work that afforded Levi’s versatility of 
genius the widest scope, is a drama entitled ‘‘ The Prophet.” 
It could issue only from a mind which education and sur- 
roundings made capable of conceiving Judaism in its loftiest 
spirituality. And the author of that sublime outpouring 
of the soul, drew inspiration from the purest source. For 
the charms of his mother’s lovely face were surpassed by 
the grace of a moral nature which partook of the celestial. 
She was the virtuous woman of Holy Writ who speaks 
wisdom and in whose tongue is the law of kindness. Gently 
she led her sex in the way of mercy; her serenity dispelled 
gloom in the abode of misery. The son she cherished 
learned betimes to associate truth and humanity with the 
teaching of Sinai. In that blissful faith he grew, and “The 
Prophet,” is the embodiment of his belief. Jeremiah, the 
plaintive bard of Israel’s sorrows, figures there centrally, 
and around ‘“‘the man who saw affliction” cluster charac- 
ters typical of fervent zeal, of undying devotion to the 
apostleship of the Unity. 

David Levi’s controlling thoughts may be condensed 
in the following sentences which occur in a prose writing 
from his pen: 

‘‘A patriotic revolution breaks out and lo, the Jew 
intuitively hails it as the twilight of the dawn for which 
he has ceaselessly yearned....The Hebrew’s triune 
creed is, God, Law, Humanity; and that same holy 
triad is the impelling force of great revolutions, which 


186 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


whatever may be said to the contrary, are not atheis- 
tic, but aim at the religious, civil and temporal better- 
ment of peoples.... The historical existence of the 
Jew opens with the Decalogue—the declaration of man’s 
rights and duties. Man that, underfa false Chris- 
tianity, is doomed at his very birth; debased as the 
child of sin; denied innate rights, is raised to dig- 
nity in Israel, as a citizen of the world. Arbit- 
rariness, caste-privileges, had displaced equality; a 
mighty revolution, like Mosaism, vindicates eq- 
uality, the supremacy of law, a right to the 
pursuit of happiness, to universal improvement. The 
religion it imposes is no longer a mythical absurdity; 
the worship of a special, local god; a sacrifice of reason 
to the sense; a sheer negation. It is the adoration of 
a Supreme Being, the all-loving God... .Israelites 
among all nations have ardently taken sides with 
revolutionists in the act of establishing justice. They 
have become heralds of liberty. Rabbis have vied with 
each other in reproducing in Hebrew, patriotic songs, 
as an echo of the immortal anthem raised when the 
Lord of battles struck down the oppressor and made 
the sea to flee before His freedmen....That a reaction 
should have first struck the Jew is not a surprise. It 
is rather the anticipated logical sequence of anti- 
revolutionary schemes. In fighting the Jew the re- 
trogressionists fight the social progress he advocates, 
the religious and moral principles of which he is the 
fountain-head.”’ 

An Italian journal referring to that production of the 
Hebrew Deputy, entitled ‘“‘Semitism, a Factor of Civili- 
zation,” writes: 

“Such a work should not be called ‘a pamphlet,’ 
as the illustrious poet modestly terms it, but rather ‘an 
epoch-making volume in the history of human thought.’ 
By right, it should have preceded ‘The Prophet,’ but 
several considerations induced the author to publish it 
separately. We trust that the sequel of ‘The Prophet,’ 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 187 


or ‘A People’s Suffering’—a part of which is still in- 

edited—will soon appear in all its completeness, to 

crown with fresh laurels the venerated head of David 

Levi.’’? 

Since this was written, our fellow-believer of Turin 
has added to his renown by the finest touches of his genius. 
The memories of Imperial Rome and fallen Judea, which 
stirred up his soul from its depths, evoked a poetry that 
thrills. ‘The scene of a night-vision in the seven-hilled 
city, might have been portrayed by a Niccolini—the 
classic creator of the great tragedy, Arnoldo da Brescia—- 
and have done him honor. 

Perhaps, the literary effort of David Levi, which will 
outlive even his ‘‘Semitic Songs,’”’—majestically clothed in 
varied garb, and withal so touching in pathos, so brimful 
of love for man and God—is his ‘“‘Giordano Bruno, or the 
Religion of Thought,” for that production appeals to all 
who claim Italy as their country. Already in 1842, while 
in Paris, our co-religionist composed in French a sketch of 
Bruno, but political events prevented its publication, and 
the writer never recovered his manuscript. When in 1848 
all Europe, in the throes of national revolutions, demanded 
unselfish patriotism, David Levi laid down the pen to 
seize the sword. But immediately after 1854, when a cor- 
ner of the peninsula—Sardinia—became free, he prepared a 
series of articles on Giordano Bruno, which were issued in 
the journal La Nazione, and then in a volume, whose edi- 
tion has long been exhausted. To extend that work and 
leave it to posterity as the parting counsel of an Italian Jew 
who understood the great thinker of Nola, and commended 
to generations yet unborn his ideas of liberty under law, 
of moral and intellectual development over priestly dog- 
mas, became the noble ambition of the Turin Israelite. A 


t The first portion of the estimate of David Levi was used by the 
author in 1896, in a lecture delivered in the course of lectures arranged 
by the trustees of Gratz College in Philadelphia. See “Publications of 
Gratz College’’, I (Philadelphia, 1897), pp. 71-73. David Levi died 
in Venice, October 18, 1898, at the age of 82. [G] 


188 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


book of four-hundred and fifty pages, enriched by authentic 
documents issued from the press, two years before the glorious 
monument by Ettore Ferrari was raised to Giordano Bruno 
in that same Rome, which in 1600 kindled the fire that 
burned alive the martyr of thought. 


LUZZATTI—F RANCHETTI—ARBIB 


At the beginning of May, 1878, a Royal commission, 
appointed to represent Italy at the Paris International 
Exposition, started from Rome. Amadeo, the ex-king of 
Spain, headed it, and among the four illustrious Italians who 
accompanied the Prince of Savoy, Luici LuzzatTti figured 
prominently. This Israelite can claim descent from a 
family of Hebrew scholars and scientists, the most renowned 
of whose members doubtless was the late Professor at the 
Padua College. Such is the genealogical information which 
I received, years ago, in the course of a most agreeable cor- 
respondence with my valued friend, Dr. Isaiah Luzzatto. 
Why the last vowel in the surname was changed by the 
subject of the present sketch, I could not explain, but I 
have noticed the same oddity in other instances. Thus, 
“Castello,” of my young days, is now, Castelli; and my deeply 
lamented friend ‘“‘ Veneziano” signed his name, Veneziani. 
However, the thing is irrelevant. I meant simply to convey 
the thought that the Luzzattos, who, during the last four 
hundred years, have shone by their talents in different 
cities of Italy, have now a brilliant exponent in one that 
ranks foremost as a political economist. 

In 1864, a Venetian young man, of not quite twenty- 
seven, laid in Milan the first foundations of co-operative 
associations amidst the jeers of the incredulous, who styled 
the attempt utopian. Now, institutions of that character 
have spread throughout Italy, and have reached a full seven 
hundred, four hundred of which sent delegates to a recent 
Congress at Bari, presided over by the Israelite who called 
them into existence. Their aggregate capital in banks, 
originated and wisely directed by Luzzatti, is over seventy 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 189 


million liras, with an illimitable credit.t What the Italian 
established has served as a model which other nations copy. 
In London, a ‘Co-operative Display’ is being held this 
season. Two hundred distinct trades, of one thousand and 
six hundred organizations, are there represented. Not 
without cause, the Corriere Israelitico writes: ‘‘We defy the 
anti-Semites to point out one of their party who has so 
benefited, even on a smaller scale, the people at large, as 
that Semite who has worked immeasurably for the welfare 
of the humble classes.” 


For years Luigi Luzzatti taught political economy at 
the University of Padua, but in 1883 he was induced to 
resign, that he might take his seat in the Chamber of Deputies 
to which the popular voice loudly called him. Since then, 
whenever international monetary questions or banking 
regulations affecting the government credit at home or 
abroad are concerned, Luzzatti’s counsel is sought out as 
supremely authoritative. To king Humbert and his Cabi- 
net what that Israelite decides on such points, is final ;? but 
the Venetian peasantry, in whose midst the country seat 
of the Deputy lies, look upon him as a man without an 
equal both in qualities of the heart and in calibre of the 
mind. Still in a vigorous stage of life, the Hebrew dwells 
patriarchally in the association of those who are the con- 
stant recipients of his kindness. For the knowledge of 
which he is master does not overrule the sentiments. The 
manifestations of his science are mirrored in the communal 
weal, and to further public happiness, he exercises science 
in his immediate surroundings with singular devotion. 


Luigi Luzzatti is described as pale-looking, but of a 
pleasing cast of countenance, with a sympathetic voice, 
that speaks fluently, forcibly and in flowery language. His 


t Luzzatti was the first to receive the new decoration of the Order 
of Labor, established by king Victor Emanuel III in 1901, in recognition 
of his work in behalf of the laboring classes. Luzzatti was several 
times entrusted with the portfolio of the treasury of his country and 
was also given several other important diplomatic missions in recent 
years, later on becoming Premier of Italy. [G] 


190 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


oratory, which his political adversaries call studied, is ir- 
resistible. It is of a nature to force plaudits from all 
sides. Let him launch into subjects in the knowledge of 
which he towers above all, and the more he extemporizes 
the greater the success. 

A writer in the Gazetta di Mantova, who clearly is not 
inclined to flatter, owns that when Luzzatti addresses Parlia- 
ment all petty rivalry and predisposition to fault-finding 
vanish like mist before the rays of the rising sun. Ac- 
cording to the Christian correspondent of that journal, the 
great statistician and political economist could win the palm 
as an incomparable orator if, instead of holding his hands 
motionless, he would accompany his nervous sentences with 
graceful gestures. And I add, if he who has moved quickly 
and most nobly in aid of his country, would draw closer than 
he is wont to his coreligionists, and practically lend them 
his influential support, he could stand hereafter in the annals 
of Judaism where a George Jessel, or an Arthur Cohen is— 
splendid specimens of modern Israelites, of whom their 
country and our people are justly proud. 


The name of FRANCHETTI brings back to memory my 
earliest school days. The rooms in which Jewish children, 
at Leghorn, met for tuition were situated near the principal 
synagogue. In all likelihood that location was chosen to 
prevent our children being molested by those of their age 
belonging to the Catholic belief. But the place was alto- 
gether unfit. Narrow and ill-ventilated, it invited truancy 
instead of encouraging attendance. The improvements 
occasionally made, availed nothing. All agreed that the 
only plan of lasting advantage would be to leave the spot 
and build elsewhere. Whereas the youngest among our 
poor classes had been neglected, and the oldest, trained 
for the Rabbinate, studied in a separate place—not very 
suitable—which served as a meeting-house for the local 
Beth Din (Ecclesiastical Court), a commodious structure 
would widen the range of instruction and answer all edu- 
cational purposes. 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 191 


Among a number of families who had emigrated from 
Algiers to Leghorn, there was one that Italianized its 
African surname, Franchetti. I retain a distinct recollection 
of Raimondo, a coreligionist, pious and benevolent. He had 
amassed great wealth, a portion of which he was willing to 
bestow on schemes aiming at the mental elevation of his 
brethren. The congregation at Leghorn thankfully accepted 
large gifts, which enabled it to raise a stately edifice, with 
infant schools, surrounded by an extensive yard; schools for 
boys and girls, in which Hebrew was taught from its rudi- 
ments to Talmudical literature; Italian in its many de- 
partments, foreign languages and various branches of male 
and female industries. Conspicuously in that structure the 
name of the munificent donor is engraved upon a marble 
slab, with a suitable inscription, in order that posterity may 
read and bless the memory of Raimondo Franchetti. 


When the good Israelite died, his children and respective 
households scattered in different cities, which their afflu- 
ence and learning helped very considerably. Leopoldo, a 
lineal descendant of the Leghorn benefactor, entered the 
Italian Parliament with the reputation of an historiographer 
of eminence. Stimulated by the researches of two able 
co-laborers,’ the Deputy wrote a work of signal importance 
on the condition of Sicily, its neglected state of agriculture, 
due to misrule, its actual needs, the cause of its poverty and 
the means to resurrect it. That work is being utilized by 
the government. 


A near relative of Leopoldo is Chevalier Augusto 
Franchetti. He excels as a Greek scholar. His Italian 
translation of some of the comedies of Aristophanes, 
evinces a deep insight into the cutting wit and scath- 
ing satire characteristic of that ancient Athenian. A 
version, that runs smooth, in terse language, is accompanied 
by explanatory notes and illustrations to which literati have 


t One of whom was Sidney Sonino, with whom Franchetti later co- 
operated in the issue of a newspaper. [G] 


192 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


awarded high encomium. Worthily representing the He- 
brew community of Florence,? Chevalier Augusto Franchetti 
lately escorted the Princess Beatrice of Battenburg to the 
splendid synagogue, which Queen Victoria also admired 
during her visit to that city. Giuseppe Franchetti, of 
Mantua, occupies the responsible station of President of the 
Chamber of Commerce; Odoardo Franchetti is attached to 
the Italian Embassy at Constantinople. But among all 
whose ancestor was the Leghorn philanthropist, none like 
Alberto Franchetti, of Reggio, gathers so fast unfading 
laurels. The lovers of music, whom Rossini, Bellini, 
Donizetti, Mercadante and Verdi still charm, and will ever 
delight, may become enraptured with the creations of the 
author of Asrael. This opera, the libretto of which emanated 
from the facile pen of Ferdinando Fontana, was put on the 
stage last year, in the Teatro Municipale, with magnificent 
effect. The young Maestro himself led the orchestra 
superbly. The frequent repetitions of his production, in 
compliance with the popular will, drew from near and from 
far, criticswho pronounced it classical. It is currently stated 
that Alberto Franchetti, who has just completed his twenty- 
sixth year, will astonish the musical world with the pre- 
sentation of another opera, called Zoroastro, having engaged 
Fontana to write the words of the plot. 


That scion of the Franchetti family is a rare example 
of immense opulence joined with untiring exertions; of an 
unconquerable passion for a fame based not upon the ac- 
quisition of gold, but on the possession of sterling merits. 
The father of Alberto is Baron Raimondo—his Leghorn 
predecessor’s namesake, with whose beneficent spirit he is 
imbued; the mother of Alberto is born a Rothschild, hav- 
ing inherited countless sums. Their gifted son married a 


* He has been President of the Community 1870-1899 and for many 
years before that an active member of the Board of directors of the Jew- 
ish community. In 1899 he was made president of the Florentine 
Commission of the Colleghio Rabbinico Italiano, and helped a great 
deal in its reorganization. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 193 


short time ago a beautiful Jewess, of the Levi family, who 
brought him a dowry of five million livres. But not a 
life of ease is that which the composer has selected. He 
nurtures ambition—it is that which will associate his name 
with the names of our Meyerbeer and Halevy. If we credit 
a report which the press has circulated, he must have almost 
ranked with them, or have at least approached those uni- 
versally celebrated descendants of David—the God-inspired 
genius of poetry and music. All have read that king Hum- 
bert anxious to signalize the quadricentennial of the dis- 
covery of America by the great Genoese, with a new opera 
to come before the public in 1892, requested Giuseppe Verdi 
to undertake the task. The illustrious maestro, who felt 
the weight of seventy-five years, is said to have declined, 
and to have pointed to Alberto Franchetti as the mind cap- 
able of bringing forth what will add lustre to the Italian 
school of music and to the land of Columbus. 


To refer to Israelites of African extraction, who settled 
at Leghorn and benefited its congregation, and to make no 
mention of the ARBIB family, would be an ungracious omis- 
sion. Giacomo Arbib was not asked or expected to richly 
endow the Jewish schools after the manner of Raimondo 
Franchetti, but every instinct of his nature was directed to 
their progress. Taking counsel with men thoroughly skilled 
in the art of teaching, he secured a corps of instructors that 
might render learning pleasurable, while encouraging those 
who imparted it to the hearts and minds of the pupils. Re- 
alizing how imperative it is to mould the child’s mind aright, 
stamping thereon healthful impressions, he devoted a vast 
deal of his time to the organization of infant schools. Be- 
fore the sensible system of reform in education by Froebel 
had come in vogue, Arbib tried to develop young children’s 
faculties by the innate power of observation, and their phy- 
sical strength by gentle and entertaining exercises. Enjoy- 
ing more than a competence, the philanthropist could give 
the little ones attention and fatherly care. But like the 


ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Franchettis, so the Arbibs partly removed their residences 
beyond the city of their original choice. 

Notable was Lelio Arbib who, born at Leghorn, but 
passionately fond of English literature, traveled to Great 
Britain to hear in all its grandeur the language of the Bard 
of Avon, whose imperishable tragedies he would endeavor 
to transfer to the Tuscan tongue;for Dante and Shakespeare 
stood before the mental vision of that Hebrew as twin 
stars, at the refulgence of which all others in the literary 
horizon must pale into obscurity. His endeavors to collect 
the rarest manuscripts and early editions of the Divina 
Comedia were simply incredible. A whole catalogue bears 
witness to his tireless perseverance in that direction. 

To Lelio Arbib’s industry is also due the restoration of 
two invaluable histories in their purity—those of Jacopo 
Nardi and Benedetto Varchi, on the City and Republic 
of Florence. He subjected faultily printed writings to his 
ripe judgment, and in the course of an erudite preface and 
copious annotations, showed how he had purged the text 
from blunders with which ignorant proof-readers had filled 
it. That achievement drew forth the acclamations of the 
world of letters, and his recovering of the tenth book of 
the history of Nardi made him honorary member of foreign 
academies. 

Had he who hungered for learning been allotted the 
ordinary term of life he might have satisfied, together with 
himself, many who relied on his exceptional culture for a 
widening of the field of knowledge. He was, in fact, gather- 
ing materials for an original work on the Siege of Florence, 
by Charles V. and Pope Clement VII., predicated upon 
documents to which the historians whom he illustrated had 
no access. But an insidious disease cut him off in the mid- 
dle of his existence. 

Edoardo Arbib,t whom the Italian Parliament has re- 
tained for a long series of years to associate with the noble 

t Edoardo Arbib was compelled to work in a printing shop after the 


untimely death of his father, Lellio. In 1859, he joined the army where 
he was made a lieutenant. He was later associated with several news- 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 195 


of his race, shedding lustre on their native country, is the 
son of the enthusiast who discovered in Dante and Shake- 
peare the potent intellects that made philosophy speak 
transcendental poetry, and history tell, in incomparable 
songs, the secret of human hearts. 


ZELMAN, ALMANZI, MORPURGO 


Unredeemed Italy—as patriots call that portion of 
the classic peninsula still under Austrian rule—can boast of 
having been the mother of Israelites distinguished for a 
learning varied and profound. Notably Trieste—the native 
city of the greatest among the Luzzatto family—may glory 
over persons of the Hebrew faith who even now broaden 
the domains of literature. 

Victor Castiglioni stands prominenetly as a worker 
quick and intelligent, reliably honest and scrupulously exact. 
Trained by Moses Tedeschi,' whose lucid interpretations of 
the Scriptures and of Hebrew synonyms have won for him 
a wide reputation, Castiglioni bids his own pen help that of 
his good master. The pupil copies his preceptor closely in 
literary activity. But beyond his own writings, the ripe 
scholar tries to diffuse and popularize the contributions of 
others to the world of letters. Particularly the lamented 
Jellinek found in him an appreciative spokesman and clever 
exponent. Witness the elegant rendition into Italian of 
many of the sermons which immortalized the great Vienna 
preacher. It is, however, for those whom he dearly loved 
that Castiglioni labors with glowing enthusiasm. 

In 1886 his friend ZELMAN died. The deceased had left 
behind a monument of his genius. For Samuel V. Zelman? 


papers and in 1880 was elected to Parliament. He is the author of 
several works, mainly dealing with military subjects. [G] 

t Moses Isaac Tedeschi (1821-1898) was the author of a series of 
commentaries covering almost the entire Bible, under the title of ‘‘ Hoil 
Mosheh’”’. He also wrote several works on Hebrew grammar and 
some homiletic works. [G] 

2 Samuel Vita Zelman, was born in 1808 and attended the Rabbinical 
Seminary of Padua, where he became the most favored pupil of Samuel 


196 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


was a Hebrew poet by the graceof God. Already when very 
young, while beneficently cared and provided for at the 
humble abode of the noble-hearted Luzzatto, he disclosed 
precocious talents: an almost intuitive capacity to penetrate 
into the spirit of the Holy Language. The veil which not 
infrequently obscures the sense of the Biblical text he 
could fling aside, making perfectly clear what seemed 
unintelligible. Castiglioni offers ilustrations of his friend’s 
ability in that important branch of Jewish learning. But 
he—himself no mean poet—built a niche in the temple of 
the muses for Samuel V. Zelman. 


Luzzatto’s favorite pupil had early woven grateful 
thoughts into charming songs. His “‘ Nizzanim’’—a cluster 
of poems—the young author dedicated to the famous He- 
braist and critic in an address teeming with words of pro- 
found thankfulness. 


Later in life, as the divine afflatus stirred his soul, 
Zelman would indite sonnets or sacred odes. At times 
his genius would break forth into nuptial lays or didactic 
poems; again, into satires against deceptions and pretentious 
philosophy, and he would also transfer to flowing Hebrew, 
melodious Latin rhymes. All of these Castiglioni religiously 
sought out and systematically arranged in an octavo volume 
of two hundred pages, which he entitled Ne’tm Zemiroth 
Shemuel—‘‘Samuel’s sweet Psalmody’’—and Yelid Kinnor.* 


The book contains, moreover, a number of valuable 
letters which the author had left unpublished, and a preface 
by the editor, with a short biography of Zelman and of some 
among the most eminent Israelties who were either born in 
Trieste, or exercised rabbinical functions there, or filled the 
office of preceptors. 


In an appendix, the reader is made to admire the poetical 


David Luzzatto. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives as the date of his 
death 1885. [G] 

Literally ‘‘the child of the harp,’ either signifying the emanation 
of a harp, or being perhaps a faint allusion to the ‘‘Kinnor Na‘im” of 
Luzzatto, from which Zelman may have drawn inspiration. 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 197 


effusions of Marco Tedeschi,‘ too early snatched away by 
death from his exalted sphere—a writer whose Hebrew, like 
his Italian, flowed mellifluously. In that appendix the 
departure from earth of Rabbis Sabbato Graziadio Treves 
and Lelio Cantoni is deplored in elegies that thrill the soul. 
A splendid ode to the Torah, also by the gifted Marco 
Tedeschi, follows and another by the same hand, to rel- 
igious and political liberty vouchsafed to Italian Jews 
under king Victor Emanuel, close the attractive volume. 
In 1889 Castiglioni received a request from Dr. Isaiah 
Luzzatto, the honored son of an immortal father. The 
latter had catalogued the Hebrew department of Almanzi’s 
precious library, and had written for it an introduction 
teeming with interesting notices. Castiglioni was asked to 
translate that preface into Italian to favor Dr. Zambelli, of 
Verona—a cultured Christian, fond of Jewish literature. 
ALMANZI? dwelt at Padua where Luzzatto taught. 
Between the two, sentiments akin to filial affection and 
parental tenderness had sprung up. The young Paduan 
set a right estimate on Luzzatto’s potent intellect, and 
Shadal} admired the young merchant whose devotion to 
Hebrew lore was unbounded. Almanzi would submit to 
Luzzatto’s judgment some of his poetical productions, and 


t Marco Tedeschi (1817-1870) was Rabbi in Trieste and famous as 
forceful preacher. [G] 

2 Joseph Almanzi (1801-1860) was a devoted student of Jewish 
history and an ardent collector of Hebrew books and manuscripts. His 
father who was a wealthy business man, had purchased the rich library 
of Hayyim Joseph David Azulai, from the latter’s son, who was Rabbi 
at Ancona. This collection served as a stimulus to Almanzi to increase 
his collection by purchasing rare works and manuscripts from different 
sources. Hislibrary wasregardedas the finest Hebrew library in Europe 
and many Jewish scholars availed themselves of its rich treasures. 
Almanzi remained unmarried and after his death, the largest number 
of his Hebrew manuscripts was purchased by the British Museum. His 
collection of Hebrew printed books was subsequently bought by Temple 
Emanu-E] of New York and presented in 1893 to the library of Columbia 
University. [G] 

3 The appellation by which Samuel David Luzzatto is known in 
the literary world, forming in Hebrew the initial letters of his name. 


198 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Luzzatto would ask the business man for the loan of manu- 
scripts which might throw light upon passages in printed 
works. For Joseph Almanzi, though daily engaged in the 
counting-room or at a store, spared neither time nor gold 
in his endeavor to procure the rarest manuscripts and the 
oldest editions of writings in a variety of languages. Not 
to exhibit his literary treasures artistically arranged on dec- 
orated shelves and feign vast erudition did he thus lavish 
his earnings; but for actual self-instruction, and to increase 
the erudition which he really possessed, Almanzi bestowed 
large sums upon olden productions. But another and still 
loftier aim actuated the Italian scholar. He would 
effectively serve men who devote their lives to Jewish 
learning. For, by universal admission, Almanzi’s most 
precious collection of books was placed within reach of our 
savants, and they freely availed themselves of the generous 
spirit of the possessor. Zunz and Dukes and Fiirst, and 
the encyclopedic Steinschneider—still at this day devoted 
to his untiring work, never applied in vain to the Paduan 
for information which they needed in the pursuit of 
their researches. Almanzi was a help in need and in very 
deed, copying, translating, lending, even for an unlimited 
time. 

Victor Castiglioni cheerfully complied with the request 
of Dr. Isaiah Luzzatto. But greatly more than was sought 
at his hands the Israelite of Trieste accomplished to in- 
struct and to gratify the reader. The preface of Shadal 
to Almanzi’s catalogue he accompanied with brief but eru- 
dite biographical notes on every person incidentally mentio- 
ned, so that while the preface occupies five pages, the more 
interesting annotations fill fifteen. In them the reader forms 
the acquaintance of Samuel V. Lolli, the accomplished 
grammarian and Biblical scholar, often mentioned with 
praise by Luzzatto as his friendly controversialist; of Isaac 
S. Reggio, the versatile writer in prose and poetry, sublime 
in his metrical Italian version of Isaiah; of Abraham V. Reg- 
gio, chief rabbi of Gorizia, differing widely with his lay son 
on theological questions; of Marco S. Ghirondi, who made 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 199 


his mark as a writer largely by his work on ‘‘Eminent Is- 
raelites’’; of Saul Formiggini, who attempted the almost 
impossible task of presenting in the sacred garb of the Hebrew 
tongue the thirty-four cantos of Dante’s ‘“Inferno.’’ The 
reader meets likewise in Castiglioni’s notes that prodigy— 
Philoxene Luzzatto—a linguist, archaeologist, critic, wear- 
ing out his existence at the age of twenty-four in invest- 
igations beyond his immediate reach. 

Victor Castiglioni evinced equal respect for Joseph 
Almanzi as he had shown for the memory of S. V. Zelman. 
He edited fifteen letters in prose and a vast number of poems, 
elegies, epitaphs, varying in length, not included in the 
Higgayon Be-Chinnor— ‘Meditations on the Harp’’—and in 
Nezem Zahab—*Golden Ring’’—two volumes of poems of 
rare merit, which Almanzi had dedicated to his friend and 
master, the illustrious Shadal. 

It was in 1890 that Castiglioni brought to light what 
crowned his efforts, as an editor of works of surpassing 
worth. RACHEL MoOrRPURGO,? born to the Luzzatto family, 
had startled Jewish literati. They deemed it incredible 
that in the nineteenth century a woman could wield the pen 
of the scribe with so masterly a skill. Her cousin, Samuel 
David Luzzatto, had forwarded some of her effusions for 
publication to Mendel Stern, who, several decades ago, issued 
at Vienna a periodical called Kochebe Yizhak—“ The Stars 
of Isaac’’—and through Stern those effusions fell into the 
hands of the eminent poet, Ludwig A. Frankl. That dis- 
tinguished German, surprised at what he saw, translated 
in beautiful metre of his own vernacular, the production 
of her who regretted that her identity should have been 
discovered. 

Castiglioni, encouraged by the assistance which the 
Alliance Israelite Universelle promised, determined to sig- 


* Rachel Morpurgo (1790-1871) was a member of a well-known 
Austro-Italian Jewish family, closely related to the Luzzatto family. 
Among the illustrious members of that family were Giuseppe Luzzatto 
Morpurgo (1762-1835) and Emilio Morpurgo (1836-1885) two notable 
Italian economists ofthenineteenthcentury. [G] 


200 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


nalize the centennial of the birth of the Trieste poetess by 
issuing from the press every line which her pen had traced. 

The volume that bears the name of Uggab Rachel— 
‘“‘Rachel’s Guitar’’—is comprehensive. In it the scholarly 
editor writes an introduction in both Hebrew and Italian 
on the social condition of women in Biblical and Talmudical 
ages. He argues learnedly to show that to confound her 
station with the position of Eastern women under Moham- 
medan rule is an egregious blunder. Having called to his 
aid circumstances chronicled in Holy Writ; incidents re- 
corded in post-Biblical annals; aphorisms and exhortations 
of the rabbis, as corroborative proofs of his assertion, he 
passess on to his main topic—the life-work of Rachel 
Morpurgo. 

The resolve to send broadcast to the literary world the 
graceful creations of a poetess, suggested to her biographer 
the idea of writing an essay on the system of versification 
prevailing among modern Italian Jews. In the accomplish- 
ment of that undertaking, Castiglioni quotes copiously 
from accredited authors and convincingly demonstrates 
that the method followed by Hebrew poets in the peninsula, 
lends the rhythm a golden cadence, delightfully sweet. But 
in explaining the diversity of style, the essayist cites also 
the Ashkenazic liturgy to show specimens of the art of 
rhyming. Let it be candidly acknowledged: Seldom can 
the Ashkenazic, or even the Italian, ritual serve as a type of 
elegance. On the contrary, both are often defective in their 
wording and in grammatical construction.‘ Castiglioni’s 
quotations from Professor Della Torre’s effusions may 
fittingly answer, as patterns of a chaste diction. For his 
Tal Yalduth—‘ Early Dew’’—sparkles with pearly beauties. 
Romanini, too, superbly sets forth the method of Hebrew 
versification, and the editor might have pointed out besides, 
if he had so chosen, among our contemporaries, Piperno, 
Ara Cohen, Costa, and very many others. But difficult 

t The author evidently has reference here to the Piyyutim of the 


Ashkenazic Machzor and not to the regular Ashkenazic form of service 
which differs but little from the Sephardic. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 201 


will it be to select abundantly as models, what one reads in 
a Machzor which is not Sephardic. 

Rachel Morpurgo realized that fact, and she shaped 
her poetry in the mould of the Luzzattos, the noblest scion 
of which family was her cousin, the world-renowned Shadal. 
“‘Rachel’s Guitar,’’ whose sounds Castiglioni evoked, con- 
sists of fifty poems—properly speaking, of fifty-one, if the 
last, which is a mere play of words variously transposed 
and conveying always the same meaning, may also be 
reckoned. They are unlike in form, in length and in rhythm; 
also in merit. Not all flow with equal smoothness. 
Yet all of them display remarkable ingenuity and a mastery 
of the language employed. Occasionally, a blending of 
expressions from Talmud and even from the famous Zohar— 
which Kabbalistic work she seemed to favor—bears witness 
to the broadness of the education that Rachel Morpurgo 
had early received—singular perhaps in the nineteenth 
century among Jewish women. 

Many of her effusions had been previously published, 
but not a few Castiglioni collected from scattered manu- 
scripts. One might have wished that the zealous editor 
had gratified persons unacquainted with the original, by 
his rendition in Italian verse of several, if not all, of the 
creations of the heaven-inspired poetess. That he was emi- 
nently qualified for the task, his translation of our Rachel’s 
‘Emek ‘Achor—‘‘The Valley of Sorrow’’—which he feli- 
citously gave the reader under the title of Grido dell’ Anima- 
“The Soul’s Cry’’—proves beyond peradventure. But, at 
all events, gratitude is due to the Israelite of Trieste for 
having prevented the loss of a vast deal which scholars will 
delight in, so long as the original text of our Scriptures is 
not cast into the pit of oblivion with the sinful intention 
of deliberately rooting out the language of Sinai. For not 
simply in verse, but also in prose, ‘“‘Rachel’s Guitar” 
played, to sound the praises of Jewish worthies. 

Castiglioni favored posterity by having handed down 
twenty-three epistles and essays which testify to the thorough 
familiarity of the daughter of an exceptionally endowed 


202 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


household, with the diction of both the Bible and the sages. 

All honor to Victor Castiglioni of Trieste, and may the 
name of the Italian Jewess, whose brilliant talents and mental 
activity he so becomingly illustrated, be sweetly embalmed 
in the memory of the lovers of Judaism and its grand 
literature. 


EMANUEL VENEZIANI 


Chevalier Veneziani,—the almoner of Baron De 
Hirsch of Paris—, has, within late years, been brought 
prominently before the Jewish world. Closely identified 
with the work of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, in its 
endeavors to improve the social and cultural conditions of 
Eastern Jews, he has more especially won the applause of 
all the liberal minded, by the readiness and efficiency with 
which he has aided hundreds, driven from their homes in 
Bulgaria, through a cruel war. 

Emanuel Veneziani was born in July, 1826,at Leghorn, 
of parents in the humblest walks of life. So destitute were 
they that the child had mainly to depend upon an aunt— 
herself in poor circumstances—for a meal. Many a time he 
was compelled to seek food at the table of some kind friend. 
While hospitably entertained at the house of Samuel 
Florentino—a pious and benevolent Israelite—he was 
seized with a hemorrhage of the lungs so alarming, that it 
prostrated him upon a sick bed. The care bestowed by 
two daughters of the kind host, restored him to health, 
and he was soon enabled to follow his studies with unre- 
mitting diligence. Young Veneziani attended the Jewish 
free schools, and there he very early manifested qualities 
of the heart, which have distinguished him ever since. 
Having gained a prize for proficiency in secular learning, he 
accepted it only on condition that he might share it with 
three of his schoolmates, who had nearly come up to his 
standard. An act so generous from a lad in a very needy 
situation, pleased the school directors exceedingly. It was 
reported to the editor of a literary magazine, issued at 


t The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 203 


Florence, by the principal teacher, Solomon Cohen. The 
name of Emanuel did not appear in the published account, 
but all knew who was meant by “‘the Jewish lad of Leghorn.”’ 
Dr. Modigliani, a public-spirited Israelite, took a lively 
interest in the lad, and tried earnestly to promote his welfare. 
For a time he was placed under the tuition of Rabbi A. B. 
Piperno—subsequently Chief Rabbi—to learn theology, 
in the expectation that he would be reared for the ministry; 
but the bent of Veneziani’s mind was not upon that calling. 
In 1846, when he had not yet completed his twentieth year, 
he left Leghorn for Salonica, in the capacity of tutor at the 
house of the Allatini family. To impart the knowledge ac- 
quired, and thus widen the sphere of his intellect, proved a 
congenial occupation, and the aptness of the pupils added 
zest to its agreeableness. An affection sprung up between 
preceptor and scholars which the various changes wrought 
by time have not lessened. 

While at Salonica, Veneziani made the acquaintance of 
the Camondos. His quick perception, his broad views and 
his noble character, were the recommendations that secured 
for him the position of confidential secretary of that famous 
banking house in European Turkey. At Constantinople, 
where he settled in 1854, Emanuel Veneziani organized 
savings-banks, and associations for the relief of the sick and 
the poor. Considering Masonry a powerful means to 
liberalize his coreligionists, he created subordinate lodges, 
under the auspices of Italian grand lodges, and for many 
years conducted them in a manner, which made him the 
central figure among the Jewish population. He used his 
influence to insist upon the establishing of hospitals, as well 
as of homes for the destitute, who had been cured of the 
cholera, when this disease raged in the capital. On the 
occasion of a disastrous fire, Veneziani risked his own life, 
and by presence of mind saved many who would otherwise 
have been a sure prey to the flames. Victor Emanuel, 
king of Italy—ever ready to recognize merit—having heard 
that one of his subjects had behaved so bravely, sent him a 
double decoration with expressions of his royal approval. 


204 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


But the great aim of the Leghorn Jew was to win the favor 
of the Turkish government, that he might have it in his 
power to benefit his oppressed fellow-believers. And he 
reached that noble object through the Camondos. Several 
privileges theretofore denied and now enjoyed by the Hebrews 
under the Crescent, are due to the influence exercised by 
Veneziani. To the credit of the Italian ambassador Bertol- 
ami, be it said that the Israelite found in the Christian gen- 
tleman a ready co-worker. In fact, the good feeling existing 
between the two, inured to the advantage of both Italy and 
the Porte; for Veneziani proposed measures of great 
commercial importance, and travelled to Rome to see 
personally to their adoption. But a new field of activity 
to the philanthropic Hebrew was the Alliance Israelite 
Universelle. Hecaught the spirit of that grand organization, 
and lent it his best energies. He entered into correspondence 
with the venerable Cremieux, formed committees, at the 
head of which the oldest of the firm of Camondo was sagaci- 
ously put; but he himself, acting as vice-president, imparted 
life and strength to institutions of learning and beneficence. 
He planned the system of education to be pursued, he devised 
the means for raising funds, and he was one among several,— 
neither the last nor the least— who led Baron De Hirsch 
to those acts of signal munificence by which a million francs, 
were given to found and support Jewish schools in Turkey. 

The Camondos wishing to extend their banking-house, 
resolved to open in Paris a branch of that long existing 
in Constantinople. Their confidetial secretary was asked 
to take up his residence in the French capital. There, 
his advice is sought after by his coreligionists devoted to 
the cause of humanity, and his experience is recognized and 
followed, as a reliable standard. Unhappily, recent events 
brought that experience into requisition. All our readers 
remember the unspeakable suffering of men, women and 
children of differentagesand creeds, throughout thecountries 
which the iron heel of Russia trod upon; they can recall 
how a large number remained homeless, how many died, 
starved and froze, and how the piercing cry of those who 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 205 


begged for food and shelter reached our shores. To Vene- 
ziani, Baron De Hirsch entrusted the holy mission of going 
where charity was most imperatively needed; and of re- 
lieving all, independent of nationality or religion. The 
Leghorn Israelite, acquainted with the languages of the 
East and of the West, bringing to the discharge of his 
task a vast deal of discretion and discernment, and a heart 
overflowing with kindness, acquitted himself so splendidly, 
that modern history has reserved for him a golden page. 
Not alone—says one of our correspondents—did Emanuel 
Veneziani leave his home comforts, to hasten and admin- 
ister to the wants of his fellow-creatures; not alone did he 
stir up the Turkish Jews to contribute their mite towards 
assisting the refugees; but by the influence he wields, he 
induced the Chief Rabbi of Constantinople to gather the 
people at the synagogue, and exact a promise that each 
family would, in turn, supply the unfortunate who had fled 
from the Cross to the Crescent, with a meal and a bed, 
till they could provide for themselves. These latter 
incidents, published extensively in European journals, and 
reproduced in American papers, have been set forth con- 
spicuously in the last report issued by the Alliance, in the 
month of November 1877. 

The subject of our biographical sketch is married and 
has raised a large number of children, but he does not forget 
those near akin, nor his early associates. Looking to the 
settlement in life of his own sisters, he gave the dowry— 
an indispensable accompaniment to marriage everywhere 
in foreign countries. His brothers he greatly helped to 
earn a decent livelihood. In the days of prosperity he 
illustrates the feelings evinced in the years of destitution by 
encouraging talent, and raising the fallen. Goodness and 
uprightness have elevated Emanuel Veneziani from the 
humblest state to a lofty position; the practice of those 
virtues has insured for the Leghorn Jew a name and a fame 
which will not die.? 


t A sketch of Veneziani’s life appears in H. S. Morais’ ‘Eminent 
Israelites of the Nineteenth Century”, p. 339-341. [G] 


206 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


A Nose LIFE 


While recalling the early stages in the history of Vene- 
ziani,t the mind finds itself instinctively carried into the 
midst of an Italian family most considerate and kind. 
‘‘ Manuel Veneziano,’ as we boyscalled him, owed that family 
a great deal which contributed to the moulding of his beauti- 
ful character. When I became a member of a choice circle 
of students who met at the house of Samuel Florentino, 
situated in Via Reale, at Leghorn, I enjoyed the hospitality 
which the father and his motherless sons and daughters 
heartily offered, but for Veneziani the courteous parent 
and his six children had the door of their humble home 
wide open at all times. The kind people felt that the 
lad needed refining influences, besides a meal; for he was 
born of parents utterly destitute and quite ordinary in 
their social standing. What he lacked in his immediate 
surroundings, he was largely given where tacit lessons of 
good breeding, self-reliance and morality could be imbibed. 


Samuel Florentino was genuinely pious, deriving satis- 
faction from devotional exercises, being perfectly content 
with his moderate earnings and pleased with the intercourse 
of the promising youths, whom he always welcomed. With- 
out laying the least claim to erudition, he could quote 
Hebrew Scriptures and Mishnah, from having made it a 
practice to read portions of both daily. His religious turn 
of mind led him to have two of his sons, Abram and Angiolo, 
trained for the ministry, as a calling he honored, but neither 
saw fit to enter it; still in the Jewish schools which they 
attended many facilities were afforded to gain also the 
secular learning, of which they availed themselves 
extensively. 

Veneziani was their intimate associate at home and at 
school, and his genial and sympathetic nature made him a 
favorite with all the pupils and teachers. Salvatore De 


t These reminiscences were prepared by the author, at the request 
of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and published in the issue of March 
9, 1889, a few weeks after Veneziani’s death. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 207 


Benedetti especially showed the bright-minded and warm- 
hearted youth exceeding fondness. Under that eminent 
scholar'—now Professor of Semitic Literature in the Royal 
University at Pisa, and renowned in Italy as the author 
of several meritorious works, but more widely known for 
his ‘‘Canzoniere’’ on Judah ha-Levi’s poetic writings— 
Veneziani studied belles lettres and Latin. Often the two 
would remain to chat familiarly after the class had been dis- 
missed, or walk to the cafe, discussing social and communal 
topics. Some timeago, De Benedetti, alluding to his having 
seen Veneziani in his travels through Italy, thus expressed 
himself to me in a letter: ‘‘I have always considered our 
very dear Veneziani as one of the dearest of my Leghorn 
pupils. He still possesses a heart overflowing with generosity.” 

But long before the choice of De Benedetti as Rettore, 
Veneziani pursued his studies diligently, spending the 
evenings at Florentino’s, to prepare his lessons, not 
infrequently up in a garret, till the tallow candle gave out, 
when he laid himself down next to one of his friends. In 
one of his communications to me, in 1880, from Madrid, 
where he represented the Alliance Israelite Universelle be- 
fore a conference of diplomatists, and urged the continuance 
of consular protection to Jews of Spanish descent at Morocco, 
after giving a detailed account of his endeavors at the Ber- 
lin Congress in behalf of the Roumanian Jews, he wrote: 
‘“‘Could you have believed it, when we were together at 
Florentino’s that one of the most wretchedly situated among 
our circle would one day have it in his power to plead for 
human rights in that fatal land, wedded to fanaticism— 
the land which sought to blot out the very name of our 
race? Yet God willed it so.” 

It was but natural that Veneziani, looking back on the 
trials he had overcome, should consider himself an instru- 
ment of Providence; the more so because at one time 
he had been threatened with an insidious disease. As he 
was developing into manhood, his friends feared that he 


t See p. 224, 228 ff. 


208 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


would fast go into consumption. But then also he received 
at Florentino’s the tender care which restored him to dis- 
tressed humanity, and he could resume the studies which 
qualified him for blissful undertakings. In 1846 I had re- 
turned to Leghorn, after an unsuccessful effort to be 
appointed assistant Reader at one of the synagogues in 
London. Abram Florentino, Veneziani and myself were 
about to part; the first to Constantinople, the second to 
Salonica as private tutors, and I once more to London by 
invitation of the directors of an orphan school. We three 
were standing in the dining room at Florentino’s. Vene- 
ziani, with his usual boyancy of temperament, said, “‘Let 
us pledge ourselves to meet here again in the summer of 
1849.”’ That promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. 
At Salonica, his wide capacities, his earnestness and the 
zeal evinced as preceptor at Dr. Allatini’s, drew the attention 
of Count Nissim Camondo, member of the great Constantin- 
ople banking house. Veneziani accepted the honorable 
position of confidential secretary to that firm in the capital 
of European Turkey, and there he settled. There he 
distinguished himself by a courageous mercifulness that 
saved lives, by a keen intelligence that planned institu- 
tions fostering thrift, by an unquenchable ardor for the 
cause of education, that furthered the workings of the 
Alliance. So much he did there, and so well did he do it, 
that a double decoration was awarded to him. Friends at 
Leghorn and elsewhere rejoiced greatly when the poor 
boy who had left his native place in 1846 had been made 
Chevalier of the Crown of Italy and Commander of Al 
Medjid—honors gained by most honorable means. But 
he who wore the stars over his breast, prized, above all, 
memories embalmed in his generous heart. A recent visit 
to the city in which he had resided the longest, and which he 
had benefited most, was a triumphant entry. To press the 
hand ever open to give discreetly and quick to apply a 
restorative balm to sufferers, was the wish of a whole popu- 
lation in that vast centre of Oriental Judaism. Constanti- 
nople had become Veneziani’s loved home, after Leghorn, 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 209 


because there he married and reared a cultured family. 
In 1857 the news reached me that he had become engaged to 
a good and fair Jewess, of rich parentage. Since that time 
I seldom heard of him, except from journals in the interest 
of the Hebrew people, which described his activity in 
setting up schools throughout the East, in mitigating the 
dire consequences of cruel wars, in dispensing large sums to 
the poor, in journeying far to bring his influence and that 
of the man whose almoner and counsellor he was, to bear 
on the uplifting of his down-trodden brethren. 

But a cheerful letter, that awakened pleasing memories, 
was followed in 1882 by another full of anguish. Vene- 
ziani announced to me the death of his son Victor at Paris. 
He wrote: ‘‘My sorrow deepens as I think of my poor 
Victor’s sweet disposition. Nature had gifted him with 
qualities promising to gladden my advancing age. He 
was so good and studious. At twenty-one, after obtaining 
the title of Bachelor of Laws, he was deemed fit to enter 
the high department of schools of jurisprudence, and would 
have been admitted to the bar only one year later. The 
hopes of a brilliant future were dashed against the grave by 
two weeks’ sickness. I cannot reconcile myself to the loss 
of that angel of mine.’”’ But Veneziani was a man of action. 
He could not be chained by grief to inertness. Tenderly 
sensitive, he still could rise above sorrow and hasten where 
duty imperatively called. 

After the war which ended disastrously for France at 
Sedan, Baron de Hirsch had asked the confidant of the 
Camondos to lend him that ripe judgment needed for the 
administration of charity. To devote the rest of his exis- 
tence to such a task was the ideal of one who, in his early 
days, had experienced want and the fear of what the morrow 
might bring forth. Israelites universally know how he 
acquitted himself, but a passage in the funeral oration 
by Zadoc Kahn, Grand Rabbi of Paris, expresses it fittingly. 
“The missionary of mercy went wheresoever his presence 
was considered useful; everywhere he conveyed benefactions 
which were exhaustless. Nothing could hold him back; 


210 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


fatigue, the distance of the journey, the rigor of the seasons 
could not deter him. We have seen him, amidst theseverity 
of winter, run to Turkey to relieve misery and breathe 
fresh courage into millions of unhappy beings, victims of 
a bloody war. We have seen him a voluntary exile from 
home during many a week while performing at Brody' a 
work which borders on the wonderful, and which was com- 
pleted through his remarkable power of endurance, through 
the weight of his character and the authority of his word. 
We have seen him, in the same spirit of abnegation, in 
the same forgetfulness of self, undertake a voyage to 
Palestine,? to study the situation, with that conscientious- 
ness which ruled him always, and to seek, as far as compat- 
ible with circumstances, to improve the status of our co- 
religionists in that country.”’ 

“In all his delicate missions Veneziani admirably 
justified the confidence he inspired. He proved his signal 
ability to organize; and to a foresight and veracity which 
did not underrate difficulties, he joined a passion for doing 
good, an enthusiasm and a perseverance that never failed 
to conquer.”’ . 

But his labors extended beyond the Eastern Hemis- 
phere. In 1884, in a letter descriptive of his travels in the 
interest of new colonies planted far and wide, he asked in- 
formation about the feasibility of a plan to send to America 
200 families, mostly farmers and mechanics, whom he would 
assist to settle in a desirable spot. I consulted the late 
Michael Heilprin, whose best energies had been directed 
to the betterment of refugees from inhospitable lands, and 
at my instance he communicated with Veneziani. The 


* In 1881, Veneziani and Charles Netter were sent by the Alliance 
to Brody to assist the many Russian Jewish refugees who had gathered 
there to emigrate to distant lands. The Alliance set aside a million 
francs which were handed to Veneziani for that purpose (Jew. Ency., 
s.v.) [G] 

2 When Veneziani was elected a member of the Central Committee 
of the Alliance in 1883, he undertook a tour of the Jewish colonies in 
Palestine and it was by his advice that further Jewish immigration 
into Palestine through the Alliance waschecked (ib). [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 211 


project was not consummated, but last year, when I explain- 
ed to my friend at Paris that the settlers at Carmel, New 
Jersey, who had petitioned for aid, were the same people 
whom the philanthropic Heilprin had tried to benefit, the 
sum asked for arrived without delay. 

The heart which beat high with compassion is now stilled ; 
the mind teeming with designs to elevate the lowly has ceased 
to act here below; the mighty worker was suddenly palsied 
in the midst of his restless activity. Returning home from 
Vienna, where he had gone to prepare the way for disposing 
judiciously of the 12,000,000 francs appropriated by Baron 
de Hirsch for educational objects, he was seized with a 
malady that in a single week robbed humanity of his efforts. 

Veneziani lived to a sublime purpose. He lived to 
prove the fallacy of a belief in chance. He may emphatical- 
ly be called ‘‘a self-made man;’ but he shaped his career 
aright. The success he met with was due to determina- 
tion, constancy, kindliness and honor. Truthful and just 
as a child, he did not swerve from rectitude when in man- 
hood temptations thickened about him. The broad know- 
ledge of the world which he acquired, was the handmaid 
of his noble resolve, never the master daring to override 
the dictates of integrity. 

Veneziani at Leghorn, fitting himself for the high duties 
of life; Veneziani at Salonica, as teacher in a private family; 
Veneziani at Constantinople directing the affairs of capit- 
alists; Veneziani at Paris, the almoner of a philanthropic mil- 
lionaire, is a study to youths of all nations, creeds and count- 
ries. His splendid career, here faintly delineated by a dis- 
tant friend who grieves at his loss, may be brought to view 
hereafter in all its moral attractiveness. To quote the lang- 
uage of M. G. Montefiore, private secretary of the illustrious 
dead: “It is hoped that a masterly hand may soon portray 
the striking traits of a life ever active in its aim to lessen the 
misery which a people has unjustly suffered for many 
ages, because it would keep unscathed the heirloom en- 
trusted to its guardianship, and the preservation of which 
made Israel a proof against the fierce strokes of misfortune.” 


212 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


ExL1as BENAMOZEGH AND DAVID CASTELLI 


He must be a bold man who rises amidst an assemblage 
of the learned, and assumes to tell what is new in the world 
of letters. In this age of rapid communication, scarcely 
has a work worth preserving issued from the press before 
interpreters in multifarious ways place it within the easy 
reach of scholars of every nationality. Germany, where 
those who labor in the field of literature are proof against 
fatigue, garners with singular diligence the food for instruc- 
tion. A Steinschneider at Berlin peers almost ubiquit- 
ously into that which the ancients, born in the Sinaitic 
faith, have left written, and his encyclopedic undertaking 
takes a range so comprehensively wide, as to hold very 
nigh all that modern authors bring forth. 


I have heard that exceptions are taken to statements 
made by our Jewish historian at Breslau; and, indeed, his 
Biblical criticism—as I have read it—is hypothetical and 
daring; yet they who fail to see in Graetz a versatile genius 
pre-eminently methodical, a capacity unsurpassed to find 
and rescue from oblivion valued memorials; they who deny 
the illustrious septuagenarian a vast erudition and a grace- 
ful diction, must have their vision dimmed by a film of 
ignorance or prejudice. 


Now, with such luminous demonstrations of an activity 
which has succeeded in arranging attractively for the 
beholder, scattered treasures from East and West, what can 
sheer mediocrity hope for? All that a speaker such as the 
one who is addressing this ministerial convention may as- 
pire to, is to clothe in a different garb, what has been al- 
ready shown under diverse aspects. 


When your painstaking Secretary asked in your name 
that I should prepare for this meeting a paper on some I talian 
Jew, whose literary achievements had won for him cele- 
brity, my mind instinctively turned to Luzzatto. For him 
I have studied assiduously, and, while acknowledging that 
his sympathies and antipathies were too strong to allow, in 
every instance, a clearly impartial judgment, still the 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 213 


sterling honesty of the Professor at the Rabbinical College 
in Padua and his deep-rooted attachment to traditional 
Judaism, rendered him the ideal, that I strove to approach. 
But my unalterable admiration for a fellow-believer and a 
compatriot truly admirable, did not lure me into a subject 
perhaps trite—at all events, one that has been presented 
by myself in various manners, with a frequency that some 
may consider wearisome. I therefore dismissed it, and be- 
thought myself of another. 


From Lombardy I travelled mentally to fair Tuscany, 
and halted there to survey two literary characters of op- 
posite tendencies: they are Elias Benamozegh, of Leghorn, 
and David Castelli, of Florence. Neither, I think, is 
familiarly known to all my colleagues in America; yet, 
both these Italians exhibit an activity which rivals that 
of our co-religionists in German lands. 


Benamozegh? inherited from a long line of ancestry a 
marvellous aptness for Hebrew knowledge. I remember to 
have heard from my sainted teacher, Chief Rabbi Abraham 
B. Piperno, that Benamozegh’s father, who emigrated from 
Fez, Morocco, to Leghorn, fitted Biblical sentences into his 
ordinary conversation so cleverly and with such spontaneity 
as to create amazement. But with the ability to speak and 
write the sacred language faultlessly, the son inherited also 
a fondness for mysticism which—with less ill effects than in 
Northern Europe, but with no less an encroachment upon 
pure Mosaism—prevails in Africa and, alas! in Palestine 
and Eastern Asia, too, among our brethren. 


They would, however, err egregiously who should sup- 
pose that Elias Benamozegh countenances the vagaries 
of Kabbalism as exibited in Sadagora,? according to the 


t Born at Leghorn in 1822 and died there in 1900. A sketch of his 
life is given in H. S. Morais’ ‘‘Eminent Israelites of the Ninteenth 
Century” (Philadelphia, 1880), pp. 23-27. See Jew. Ency.,s. v. [G] 

2 A town in Galicia, the seat of one of the famous Zaddikim. The 
reference, of course, isto the modern Hasidic sect, of the tenetsand under- 


lying philosophy of which, our author could have no intimate knowledge. 
[G] 


214 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


narrative of the pro-Semitic Christian, Sacher-Masoch, or 
that he does not turn away with pain from that which 
assumed so grievous a form in Podolia. 

The experiences of Karl Emil Franzos, whose tales 
touched our hearts’ core; the sad revelations which that 
pen-painter graphically held to view in the ‘‘Child of the 
Atonement,’”’ and over which I wept because of the soul- 
withering aberrations of our co-heirs of the covenant, would 
draw tears also from the Leghorn writer. Nor does he 
claim for the whole of the Zohar—the bulwark of Kabbalism 
—an authorship so remote as that of the Mishnaic sage, 
Simeon, son of Yohai. 

What Adolphe Franck terms “the religious philosophy 
of the Hebrews,”’ is to Benamozegh an esoteric science, the 
offspring of profound truths. It is not simply a theosophy, 
or a direct insight into the relations of the Infinite and the 
finite. Benamozegh calls it ‘‘Theodicy,” or a vindication 
of the justice of God in His dealings with mortals. 

Read, for instance, his ‘‘Em le-Mikra,’’' an extensive 
Hebrew commentary on the Pentateuch. You will wonder 
at the store of learning it contains on the history of religions, 
on schools of philosophy, on philology, on Biblical criticism, 
and withal on Talmudical and post-Talmudical writings. 
But you will not need to search far to discover that, like so 
many rays of light converging into a focus, so do the ut- 
terances of the expositor tend to one point, to his theodicy, 
the Kabbalah, which he aims to establish firmly and to 
extol. 

It was in defense of that science, to which he is wedded, 
that Elias Benamozegh, when only a youth, arose with 
manly vigor to fight an anti-Kabbalistic giant of the seven- 
teenth century. All have heard of the ‘‘Ari Nohem,”’ 
whose roarings frightened into silence the disciples of the 
school of Luria in Italy. Leo de Modena, rabbi at Venice, 
had attacked the citadel of Kabbalism, by denouncing the 


* Published together with the text of the Pentateuch, under the 
title ‘‘Torat Adonai”, Leghorn and Paris, 1862-65. [Gl 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 215 


Zohar, and with a trenchant logic had brought low the 
high pretensions of its followers to superhuman knowledge. 
Benamozegh saw the object of his early affection exposed 
to the pillory of public contempt. He hastened to the 
rescue in his “‘Emath Mafgia’.”* In this Hebrew work 
strenuous efforts were made to demolish powerful argu- 
ments with the force of a keen intellect well-trained in 
polemics. But thirty-five years ago there stood forth against 
the Kabbalah an antagonist whom few would have ventured 
to confront. Samuel David Luzzatto, deeply chagrined at 
the inroads of Hasidism, so hostile to culture, so inimical 
to refining influences, had drawn a writing of his young 
days out of a repository where it had long been resting. 
It was ‘‘A Dialogue on the Kabbalah,” which he dedicated, 
in lieu of an epithalamium, to his youthful friend, G. I. 
Ascoli, of Gorizia, now the famous archaeologist of Milan, 
honored imperially as an associate member of the Royal 
Academy of Sciences of Berlin, and as Chevalier of the Order 
of ‘‘ Merito Civile,” of Savoy, a title which only sixty-three 
among the noblest citizens of Italy have ever received. 
Benamozegh did not, of course, consider evidence 
damaging to the cause which he has espoused, at all con- 
vincing. In the gracefully-written preface to his ‘‘Ta’am 
Leshad’’,? he confesses that he is about to face an opponent 
whose exceptional equipment rendered him formidable; 
nevertheless, the paladin of Kabbalism sallies forth courage- 
ously, and if he does not carry off a trophy, he certainly dis- 
plays in the warfare a fund of resources really stupendous. 
In fact, he has that almost exhaustless fund, ready at 
his command on all occasions, and nowhere perhaps does 
he draw more largely upon it than in his “History of the 
Essenes,’’3 written in Italian. In that book, Benamozegh 
attempts what appears to me an impossibility. He essays 
to identify an unaccountably strange sect of pietistic com- 
munists, to which only an abnormal condition of affairs in 
t Published in two parts, Leghorn, 1858. [G] 


2 Published, Leghorn, 1863. [G] 
3 “Storia degli Esseni’’, Florence, 1865. [G] 


216 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 

Judea could have given origin—the ascetic celibates, the 
Essenes, I mean—with a body of a chosen few among the 
Pharisees to whom, he alleges, the secret guardianship of 
Kabbalistic science was confided. 


But, however wide the divergence of opinion between 
Benamozegh and the thinkers of our times, all award to him 
the merit of throwing rare light on numerous topics, while 
in the act of clearing the Kabbalah from the charge of 
obscurantism. It is his far-reaching acquaintance with 
antiquities and the whole range of modern literature, that 
has attracted towards him theattention of learned individuals 
and of organizations. In 1868 the comprehensive associa- 
tion, known as L‘Alliance Israelite Universelle, offered a 
prize for a work that would prove the indebtedness of other 
religions to Judaism, and especially the lofty standard of 
Jewish ethics, which will suffer nothing in comparison with 
that inculcated by the broadest civilization. 


Who fitter for the task than the Rabbi-Preacher at 
Leghorn? I will quote his own words: ‘‘The question 
propounded could not but arouse within me a wish to lay 
hold of a subject for which a happy coincidence, a deep 
interest and long and active studies seemed—if I dare say 
it—to have prepared me beforehand.”’ Yet, he who so 
confidently wrote, waited. When a year had elapsed, and 
no one of the aspirants obtained the prize, Benamozegh res- 
ponded to his own inclination, and to the urgent request of 
friends. He brought forth his ‘Jewish and Christian 
Morality,’’? a volume containing also a second part on 
“The Dogmas and Morality of Islam.’’ Were it possible to 
condense in a single sentence what the author advances 
in four hundred pages fraught with learning, I would say 
this: In that French work, Benamozegh accords to Chris- 
tianity the merit due to it as a progressive phase in the 
history of humanity, but shows its impracticability in 
excluding patriotism, to make room for an unnatural cos- 


t “Morale Juive et Morale Chretienne. Examen Comparatif Suivi 
de Quelques Reflexions sur les Principes de I‘ Islamisme’’, Paris, 1867.[G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 217 


mopolitanism; whereas Moses and the sages sensibly drew 
a line between devotion to one’s people and country, and 
fellow-feeling towards all mankind. In that manner, Bena- 
mozegh vindicates Hebrew laws, which prejudice condemns 
as savoring of tribal narrowness. He admits the utility of 
racial preferences, without rising as an apologist of racial 
wrongs. That he hatesm ight when it crushes right by 
brutal force, he has unequivocably demonstrated in his 
French volume, ‘‘Le crime de la guerre,’ which gained for 
the author a medal from the Peace Congress that met in 
Paris under the presidency of Jules Simon. 

If I understand Benamozegh correctly—and I have 
read with more or less profit nearly all his multifarious 
writings in Hebrew, Italian and French, I may declare him 
a staunch defender of the faith, interpreted after a philoso- 
phico-dogmatic Kabbalism; an enthusiast who sees evo- 
lution in Judaism by a universal acceptance of its underlying 
doctrines. He holds that the Jew as the first born in the 
religious family, being in the immediate contact of the 
Shekinah, or the Divine manifestation, will retain his 
sacred character by clinging to Mosaism; the rest of the world 
or the younger offspring, will be finally recognized as mem- 
bers of an all-embracing religious household, by adherence 
to the seven Noahide precepts, which lie at the basis of 
the social fabric.’ 

Who is he that bids a facile pen write down Benamozegh 
as a metaphysical utopian? It may surprise you, to 
learn that the opponent of the prolific author is one who, 
for a time at least, sat at his feet as a pupil, and who 
had long frequented his house with the intimacy of a 
friend. David Castelli may also boast of a worthy 


t “Le Crime de la Guerre Denoncea1’Humanite”’, Paris, 1881.[G] 

2 In an Italian work by the same author, entitled ‘‘Teologia Dog- 
matica ed Apologetica’’ (Leghorn, 1877), Benamozegh endeavors to 
present in a systematic form his views on religion and mysticism and 
evinces a wide acquaintance with the various schools of philosophy, 
both ancient and modern, He also contributed largely to French and 
Italian periodicals on the subjects of Philosophy and Kabbalah. [G] 


218 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


lineage. His great-grandfather, when a lad, travelled 
from Ancona to Leghorn in search of a livelihood. While 
learning to make coral necklaces, he would sing Spani- 
ish and Italian canzonets charmingly. His employer 
rightly thought that the youth was more fitted to beacantor 
at the sacred desk, than a journeyman in a factory. Abra- 
ham Isaac Castelli became Hazzan in the principal synago- 
gue, but he was likewise one of the numerous instances of an 
Italian Hazzan who, to the acknowledged ability of reading 
and chanting the Sephardic ritual well, joined an appreciable 
acquaintance with Biblical and Rabbinical literature, with 
homiletics and the art of rhyming. Castelli preached not 
Kabbalistic sophistry and meaningless platitudes, as the 
great Zunz with insufficient knowledge of Italian schools, 
intimated in a work, otherwise most valuable. The Italian 
Hazzan spoke intelligently and logically, and toa humanizing 
purpose. He poetized also, at a time when events in the 
Jewish community were wont to elicit nuptial songs or 
elegies. So fond was Castelli of letters and the sciences, that 
he sent his oldest son Joseph to Pisa, to be taught medicine 
and philosophy, and at the untimely demise of that child 
of bright promise, his younger brother Samuel filled his 
vacant place as a noted practitioner. From the latter sprung 
Abraham Isaac Castelli, his grandsire’s namesake, and 
the first Israelite—if I am not in error—who was allowed in 
Tuscany to enter the bar and plead in non-Jewish courts. 
David Castelli, now Professor at the Royal University 
in Florence, is the offspring of the counsellor-at-law. But, 
if, like Benamozegh, hereceived a heritage of brilliant talents, 
he does not allow them to illumine the path leading to the 
observance of the faith which his ancestors labored to per- 
petuate. The soul-stirring orations of our prophets do 
strike a responsive chord in the heart of the descendant 


* “Castelli is probably the Jewish scholar with whom Lessing con- 
versed during his scientific tour in the company of Duke Leopold of 
Brunswick, and, on hearing whom, the duke is said to have exclaimed in 
astonishment, ‘Here we have one even greater than Mendelssohnh— 
of far purer metaphysics’’”’ (Jew. Ency., s. v.) [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 219 


of the synagogue reader and preacher. His work on Hebrew 
poetry, exhibits the glow of enthusiasm, which our inimitable 
bards must ever enkindle, but cold ratiocinations are offered 
to the reader, when the Messiah question is treated. In 
the volume “Il Messia secondo gli Ebrei’’ by David Cas- 
telli, Holy Writ and Talmud are metamorphosed, so that, 
clothed in a new garb they may serve new purposes. It was 
natural that a sentiment of deep mortification should 
stir within the breast of the teacher and friend, at the 
publication of that unwelcome volume. Benamozegh 
combatted views which deny Judaism a mission, incomplete- 
ly and defectively taken up by Christinaity. Was it resent- 
ment which called forth a critique from the professor at 
Florence on the work of the Leghorn Rabbi-Preacher, con- 
cerning the existence of God ontologically discussed? The 
suspicion arose, and gave occasion to a literary contest. 
Others shall judge on whose side victory took its stand. 
I am incompetent to decide because of my theological 
proclivities. Yet, I would commit an injustice if I con- 
demned the work of Castelli altogether. ‘‘I] Messia secondo 
gli Ebrei,’”’ has merits that none dare underestimate. Some 
obscure rabbinical sayings receive by it an ingenious con- 
struction that scholars will appreciate. Thus, by way of 
illustration, the identifying of Armilos, whom a legend makes 
the destroyer of Messiah ben Joseph, with Romulus, 
typifying Rome that crushes I[srael’s national hopes in 
Judea—commends itself to favor. Even the last page of 
the book, destitute as it is, indeed, of historical foundation, 
fanciful as it is, possesses a depth of feeling that pleases me. 
I will translate part of the closing paragraph: ‘‘Sentiments 
have their language which finds expression in metaphors and 
symbols best interpreted and expounded by reason. The 
pleasing anticipation of an era in which wrong, crime and 
misfortune will cease; in which all will be happy, because all 
will be sinless, is symbolically presented under the guise of 
a Messiah, who has lived since mankind has existed, and 
who has suffered and borne contempt; for, such is and has 
unhappily been the lot of many a mortal. But we have 


220 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


seen him also triumphant and happy, and we cannot 
gainsay that so are many human beings,. The Messiah 
then, the looked-for Redeemer, who has lived during 
long ages, who may appear any day, is none other than 
man himself, or mankind collectively, now cast down, 
anon arisen; mankind that can atone for its own sins, that 
can redeem itself from evils. The era in which humanity, 
self-redeeming, and thus redeemed, will enjoy the greatest 
amount of hapiness, is the ushering in of that undefined pro- 
gress toward which we continually move on. It is the gold- 
en era for which arts, science and the civilization of numer- 
ous centuries have been long preparing.’’ But the principal 
merit which I assign to Castelli’s book is that which will be 
awarded to it by all the unprejudiced. He does not dismiss 
the Messianic idea, promulgated by sages, sanctified by 
martyrs, cherished still by the myriads of suffering Israel, 
with vulgar jests; nor does he attempt to explain it away 
by a distortion of Hebrew sentences, against which grammar, 
syntax and plain common sense exclaim. Though I pro- 
nounce “‘I] Messia secondo gli Ebrei,” a writing based upon 
false premises, and constructed of false conclusions, I 
recognize it as the issue of serious thought, seriously set 


forth. 


Were I asked in what manner has David Castelli 
placed the world of letters under obligation, I would answer: 
in collating rare manuscripts,—availing himself of some 
heretofore uninspected in the Laurentian Library at Florence 
—and producing a superb edition of the best commentary 
extant on Sepher Yezirah.t Addressing a Conference of 
learned divines, I am freed from the necessity of showing the 
value of the Comment which the Professor at the Florentine 
University enriched with a preface in Hebrew, an extensive 
introduction in Italian, and explanatory foot-notes in both 


t “Tl Commento di Sabbatai Donnolo al Libro della Creazione, 
Testo Ebraico con Note Critiche e Introduzione in Ebraico ein Italiano”’, 
Florence, 1880, in “ Publicazione del Regio Instituto di Studi Superiori”’ 
[G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 221 


languages.* Yet I confess that a strong inclination would 
impel me to dwell on the history of a book which has en- 
chained the attention of a Judah ha-Levi—our philosopher- 
poet—and I would endeavor to exonerate the deservedly 
renowned Spaniard from the charge of having believed, that 
Abraham could have written the work, which Kabbalism 
deems the corner-stone of its mystical edifice. I would 
let internal evidences demonstrate that the immortal author 
of the Kuzart, considered only the ideas embodied in Sepher 
Yezirah as an emanation of the mind of the patriarch, be- 
fore the God of nature had manifested His absolute creative 
powers to the father of the faithful. 


A CHRISTIAN HEBREW SCHOLAR. 


The Talmudists, in their forceful way of teaching, tell 
us that Hillel the Elder and Eleazar ben Harsom are quoted 
at the bar of the Supreme Judge, as instances of devotion 
to sacred learning, in opposite circumstances—extreme pov- 
erty in one case; exceeding riches in the other. The conduct 
of those two sages is pointed to as a rebuke to Israelites 
who neglect the study of the Law, either on the plea of 
want, or of engrossing business. I conceive that to cause 
many an Israelite of our own days to blush, mention will be 
made in the highest tribunal not alone of ancient preceptors 
of our people, but of modern Christians also —of Christians 
who are illustrations of fond love for Jewish learning. 

Scarcely a paper in the interest of our literature is 
published abroad, without containing a notice or a review 
of works upon that topic, written or edited by non-Jewish 
persons. Of late, the Bodleian library at Oxford has given 
scope to the activity of Hebrew scholars who do not belong 
to our creed. Thus Hunt, Collins, Mathews, and others 
among their co-laborers have brought to light rare manu- 
scripts of the Talmudic ages, or of the Arab-Spanish period. 


t Our author gives a brief sketch of the life and works of Donnolo 
in his paper on “Italian Jewish Literature’’, published in “‘ Publications 
of the Gratz College’’, I, (Philadelphia, 1897), pp. 56-58; see p.4. [G] 


222 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


A personage, however, whose indefatigableness may be 
cited hereafter to the confusion of a vastnumber of both our 
rich and our poor, is the Catholic prelate in the royal library 
at Parma. Peter Perreau never lets his pen drop from 
weariness. Moving in a pantheon of Hebrew thinkers, he 
gazes intently upon our celebrities only to mark out the 
productions of their minds as subjects of his research. In 
a striking manner has the attention of the learned Abbot 
been riveted on the inedited works of the universally renown- 
ed Immanuel—the contemporary and friend of Dante. 
Scriptural commentaries whereon the versatile poet of the 
thirteenth century prides himself in his cantos (Mahberoth), 
but of which posterity possessed heretofore a very scanty 
knowledge, have been unfolded by Perreau and enriched 
with a store of erudition.? 

Recently, a lengthy account of Immanuel’s threefold 
explanation of Canticles, was followed by an elaborate 
exposition of medieval writings upon the same Biblical 
volume, with an occasional reference to the lives and char- 
acters of the writers themselves. Another literary under- 
taking, in the course of publication by the untiring Abbot, 
is a synopsis of Immanuel’s commentary on Job, which, like 
many of Perreau’s effusions, is appearing seriatim in the 
meritorious magazine, Antologia Isarelitica, of Corfu. 

It is this periodical that has reproduced in its June 
number a brief biographical notice of the Christian savant 
who deserves so well of Hebrew lore, and I deem ita privilege 
to present that notice prior to my making allusion to still 
later productions of the worthy prelate. 

Peter Perreau was born at Piacenza, October 27th, 1827. 
As the name denotes, he is of French extraction. His father 
who was a civil engineer married at Piacenza a lady of 
distinction. Their son—the subject of this sketch—en- 
tered college when quite young, and studied there for five 
consecutive years. While at college, he devoted his leisure 

t Perreau edited and published in polygraphic editions the com- 


mentaries of Immanuel on Psalms (Parma, 1879-1882), on Esther (1880) 
and on Lamentations (1881). [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 223 


hours to languages, and he learned Greek, German in its 
numerous ramifications, English, Russian, Polish and He- 
brew. In 1853 he gave himself particularly to the study of 
philology and philosophy, and having gone to Sardinia for 
his health, he was elected professor of Greek and German, 
first in the Charles Albert college at Moncalieri, and after- 
wards in that of Maria Louisa at Parma. Chosen in 1857 
director of the Landz library at Piacenza, he collated the 
catalogue and set it in methodical order. Meanwhile, a 
journal issued at Parma brought forth many articles from his 
pen, bearing on Biblical versions in the various languages of 
India. In 1860, Perreau was called to superintend the De 
Rossi collection of Oriental works in the national library at 
Parma. In 1876 he became sole director of the same royal 
- library, but his devotedness to Rabbinical literature which 
he could now extensively gratify, dated from an earlier 
stage in the life of the savant. Since 1860 he hasdisplayed 
his activity in that vast field of knowledge, and Zunz, 
Steinschneider, Halberstamm, Berliner and Neubauer, have 
borne testimony to the proficiency of the popular librarian 
not less than to his courtesy and urbanity. The illustrious 
Lenormant dedicated to Perreau his book on Daniel, as a 
token of personal esteem and gratitude. 

Not many weeks ago, the Italian Journal, whose bi- 
ographical notice the Antologia copied, thus spoke of the 
Abbot in connection with a mission to Modena, where he 
was to assign proper places to the books of the Es¢e-library: 
‘Chevalier Perreau, besides being very learned, and well 
known in the republic of letters, by his far-reaching publica- 
tions, is a lover of the beautiful in nature and arts and is 
young in feelings as he is yet in age. As chief director of 
one of the best regulated and most elegant libraries in the 
kingdom—the Parma library—his suggestions about the 
rearrangement of that of Modena will be very valuable. 
It will be calculated to speed the undertaking and make 
it perfect.”’ 

In 1878, the subject of this article was one of the vice- 
Presidents of the Congress of Orientalists at Florence. 


224 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


The appointment carried with it a meaning, which it seldom 
conveys in ordinary meetings. Rather thana title of honor 
it signified work; conscientious and comprehensive work. 
At least, so did Perreau understand it, and the writing he 
subsequently issued is a striking evidence of his sense of 
duty, while it will always stand as a monument of industry 
and erudition. In its pages, the Abbot offers the salient 
points of the first volume—thus far published—containing 
an account of the scholarly papers read at that Congress 
upon Egyptology and African languages, upon Semitic 
languages and Assyriology, as well as upon Arabic studies. 
Paying in his preface a deserved tribute to the great scholar 
who superintended the publication of that volume—Fausto 
Lasinio, the Christian who writes Hebrew like a Rabbi, and 
to whom the ways of Oriental learning are as familiar as the 
ways of Florence in which he lives and teaches—the Abbot 
proceeds with the synopsis of an essay descriptive of 
Egyptian funerals in the days of antiquity. To think- 
ing Jews that synopsis possesses a singular attraction. It 
reveals the profound wisdom of Moses, in keeping silent 
about the nature of a hereafter, and in forbidding outward 
demonstrations of wild grief at the departure from earth 
of relatives and friends. 


I would greatly wish to give an idea, however faint, 
of each of the twenty-five articles of Perreau on the contents 
of the first volume of the report of the Congress, which was 
held in Italy by distinguished Orientalists. For all are of 
interest, and surely that which discusses the geographical 
situation of Tyre—the Zor of our Bible— and the other 
which sets forth the character of the mythological Tammuz 
alluded to in the prophecies of Ezekiel—ought not to be 
passed by unnoticed. But I suppress my inclinations, lest 
the reader find this writing too lengthy. Still, I deem it 
fitting to tell how our coreligionists shone amid that galaxy 
of personages whose contributions are included in this 
volume. 


Salvatore De Benedetti, widely known for his contribu- 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 225 


tions to general literature, but chiefly for his ““Canzoniere’’— 
a work of rare merit on Judah ha-Levi, which incidentally 
throws abundant light on the poetry of the Sephardic school 
—read a treatise on Talmudical studies. Having fastened 
the attention of the august Assembly upon his arguments by 
his incisive logic and elegant diction, the essayist set to view 
the insurmountable difficulties which a rendition of the 
Talmud in its Halachic, or legal department presents. The 
Aggadic, or legendary portion, however, he highly extolled 
and considered perfectly translatable. And this he himself 
has shown in a volume he composed called ‘‘Life and death 
of Moses.”’ 

With our erudite Professor in the royal university at 
Pisa, there came our illustrious Professor at Paris. Jules 
Oppert dicussed at length the discoveries of George 
Smith and explained wherein his own conclusions differ 
from those of the renowned English explorer. All will 
remember the sensation created by the unearthing of Assy- 
rian monuments, bearing out in the main the statements of 
Holy Writ. Oppert pays due homage to Smith for his 
marvellous researches, but disagrees on many points in the 
rendering of the cuneiform inscriptions. That mastery of 
the subject which won for him the lofty position he holds in 
the College of France, he exhibited before that gathering 
of famous votaries of science. 

Graziadio I. Ascoli, the archaeologist, filled up a gap 
in Jewish history through his deciphering of epitaphs, which 
date from the early ages of Christianity. He sought and 
found them in Italian cities. Some were traced in Greek, 
others in Latin; some, again, were intermingled with Hebrew 
names, phrases and dates, and some were altogether in 
Hebrew. The paper read by our Professor at Milan is of 
primary importance to all who study the past of our people 
in the country whereto Titus carried them captive. 

Gustav Weil, a noted Arabist, spoke in French on a 
question, concerning which modern scholars are divided in 
opinion; that is, whether Mohammed knew how to read 
and write. Our Professor at Heidelberg, demonstrated 


226 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


from internal evidences, drawn out of the Koran, that the 
founder of Islam was illiterate, and that by reason of it 
the book which he gave his adherents as a guide, lacks 
system and order. For Mohammed must have partly 
dictated it at intervals, but largely committed it to the 
memory of trusty followers. 

In giving a resume of the writings mentioned, as well 
as of all the papers presented at the Congress, Perreau tells 
us what he himself knows on the subjects treated. For no 
greater mistake could be made than to consider the Abbot 
a mere dry mouthpiece of other persons’ views. He en- 
livens each topic by appropriate remarks, such as only a 
scholar of his calibre can offer. In a signal manner, the 
prelate shows himself perfectly at home whenever Rab- 
binical literature is the theme. The latest evidence thereof 
is a production announced in the July number of the Anto- 
logia Israelitica, which magazine favors us also with the 
author’s brief introduction. The work has for its aim the 
explanation of recurring abbreviations in Hebrew initials, or, 
as we term them, Rashe Teboth.t Every student of Rabbini- 
cal literature is well aware that our writers habitually 
employ one or two letters to indicate a whole word, and 
that sometimes a word curiously formed by initials stands 
for an entire phrase. 

Perreau acknowledges the services which the encyclope- 
dic Zunz in our days, the elder Buxtorf in former times, and 
others at various periods have rendered in this difficult 
branch of Hebrew learning. He believes, however, that 
the book he once began for his own use, but which, in the 
course of years, has grown under his hand to a considerable 
size, is, so far, the most complete. It is to be regretted that 
the Abbot was not induced to put into print a large number 
of copies of a compilation extremely useful, nay, indispens- 
able to any who want to economize time in reading Rab- 


t This was published in a polygraphic edition (Parma, 1883) under 
the title “‘Zeh ha-Yam ha-Gadol u-Rehab Yadayim”’ or ‘‘Oceano dello 
Abbreviature e Sigle Ebraiche, Caldaiche, Rabbiniche, Talmudiche, 
Cabalistiche, Geographiche”’ etc. with a supplement ‘‘Aharit Yam’”’. [G] 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 227 


binical compositions. Trusting that he will yet do so, and 
wishing the worthy prelate health to proceed in the career of 
high honor and usefulness he has chosen, I thank him heartily 
for his unremitting exertions, in behalf of the literature of 
my people. 


THE BIBLE AND ITALIAN LITERATURE 


The frequent mention of the Sephardic liturgical poets 
made in these articles, recalled early days and a duty too 
long neglected. It brought back vividly to my mind home 
and friends; notably, a teacher—considered in that home a 
valued friend—who has won celebrity by a work on the 
greatest of synagogal bards. SALVATORE DE BENEDETTI wrote 
his ‘‘Canzoniere,”’ in 1871, to elicit the respect of his country- 
men for a typical Jew, whose genius towered high in the 
domains of truth. 

Judah ha-Levi has found splendid interpreters in 
learned Germany. The French people also have been 
admirably shown by Munk a vast deal that illustrates the 
writings of the immortal Spaniard. An exponent in the 
charming language of Dante was needed, and the author 
of the Canzoniere rose equal to the arduous task. Surpass- 
ingly fitted was he for the undertaking by his thorough 
familiarity with Biblical and Italian literature. It is that 
knowledge which enabled De Benedetti to set in array the 
thoughts, wherein the classic writers of Italy were anticipated 
by the matchless poet of the Hebrews in the eleventh cen- 
tury. A special object sought after, was to prove how the 
inspiration which gave the world the ‘‘ Divina Comedia,” 
and that which enriched the Jewish liturgy with soul- 
elevating orisons, drew extensively from the same pure 
source; how the genius of the Florentine quaffed at the 
fountain of Holy Writ, and, filled with the heavenly affla- 
tus, unconsciously breathed out sentiments, not unlike 
those uttered by the Jew of Toledo. A feature so strikingly 
new challenged the attention of both the learned and the 
students in Italy. They willingly read a book that mirrors 
forth the beauty of a life hallowed by noble aspirations, 
which found echo in the effusions of their own ideal poet. 
In reproducing for Italy what Germans had already suc- 
cessfully delineated, De Benedetti studied the models well 


THE BIBLE AND ITALIAN LITERATURE 229 


but he knew the taste of those for whom he wrote, and 
clothed his diction suitably. The Canzoniere is musically 
melodious in its prose. Judah ha-Levi has not been rhyth- 
mically rendered, but the mellifluous flow of sound runs 
through the one hundred and two poems therein translated. 
Again: a wealth of information, not accessible to many and 
given in the preface and the notes, enhances the worth of 
that excellent book. What name should have graced it but 
that of the Hebraist of Italy, who cast a flood of light on 
our liturgical poets, and who, in his love for Judah ha-Levi, 
searched out inedited copies of that master’s sublime out- 
pourings, and published them with illustrations? Salva- 
tore De Bennedetti dedicated his work to the never-to- 
be-forgotten Luzzatto. 

The little which I have now said touching a volume 
that I ought to have noticed at length years ago, is a tardy 
reparation for a sin of neglect towards a teacher and a friend. 
But it is not the exclusive purpose of this writing. Early 
last year I received from Professor De Benedetti a printed 
discourse which he had delivered at the opening of the 
scholastic term in the Royal University of Pisa. For, since 
1863, that representative Israelite has filled the chair of 
Hebrew and kindred languages in the institution where 
Galileo sat and Rosellini of our days has taught. Of his 
learned oration when first installed into office, I have had 
occasion to speak at considerable length fifteen years ago 
in the course of a series of articles on ‘“‘Italian-Hebrew 
Literature.’’ For with the logical force which distinguishes 
my teacher of Belles Lettres, he vindicated in that oration 
the claim of the language of the Scriptures to originality, 
contending for its priority to Sanscrit, and highly commend- 
ing its study to the youths whom he would thenceforth in- 
struct in Semitic philology. But the discourse in the winter 
of 1875, tooka wider range. It is most striking by reason of 
the novel idea which underlies it. What Salvatore De 


t The reference is to S. D. Luzzatto’s edition of ‘‘Betulat Bat 
Yehudah”’ extracts from the Diwan of Judah ha-Levi, edited with notes 
and Introduction, Prague, 1840. [G] 


230 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


Benedetti did in his ‘‘Canzoniere’”’ incidentally and to a 
limited degree, he now strove to accomplish directly and 
at great length. 

Fully equipped with the requisite abilities, he started 
out to lead Italians on the way to find how far our Bible 
has influenced their literature; how strong was the impulse 
which poetry, history, philosophy in the classic peninsula 
received from the Book of books. Before entering upon 
the subject proper, De Benedetti took a rapid view of the 
contents of Holy Writ; briefly defined the nature of its 
diction, and quoted in his support the authority of Vincenzo 
Gioberti'—an Italian, short-sighted in a political horizon, 
but of a far-reaching intellect in Scriptural analysis. He 
says: ‘‘The sacred writings belong to the Orient in the bold- 
ness of tropes, in the sublimity of conceptions and imagery; 
but they are distinguished withal by their simplicity, by 
a sparing use of rhetorical ornamentation, and by the un- 
failing precision of ideas. For despite daring metaphors, 
they do not exhibit a shadow of that swelling redundance 
of style, so often met in other literatures of the East, 
which have left their impress on this part of the globe, 
in the stilted eloquence of our degenerate predecessors. 
Thus Biblical style agrees with the Homeric, and the in- 
spiration that flows from the two fountains—one human 
and the other Divine—meets and runs in perfect harmony 
in the Italian mind.”’ 

At this point the Professor at Pisa unfolds the history 
of Italian literature, showing how, when it began to wean it- 
self from its nurturing mother—the Latin—it derived susten- 
ance from the Bible. Weare made to see the maxims of our 
incomparable Book of Proverbs virtually reproduced in the 
volumes of early authors of note. We behold Moses and 
the Prophets the subject of sacred representations, by which 


* Vincenzo Gioberti (1801-1852) was an Italian philosopher, and 
politician. He was an ordained Catholic priest, but was strongly in- 
fluenced by Mazzini. Fora time he taught philosophy at Brussels, but 
later entered politics and was elected to the House of Deputies. He 
was entrusted with the formation of a new ministry in 1848. [G] 


THE BIBLE AND ITALIAN LITERATURE 231 


the Church endeavored to entertain and edify its adherents. 

Coming down to the thirteenth century, De Benedetti 
takes special delight in drawing a comparison between Holy 
Writ, in the history of its commentaries, and the unique 
poem of the greatest Italian. For in like manner as the 
sacred volumes justly became the study of the deepest 
thinkers, who interpreted and elucidated it in innumerable 
ways, so was the Divina Comedia, the object of countless 
illustrations and expositions. But Salvatore De Benedetti 
is an Israelite and as he loves the Hebrew Scriptures, he 
' dwells on a circumstance which he deems an additional 
glory to the books that Jews revere. To him Dante is 
‘‘a Biblical writer.’’ Not alone by reason of a frequent si- 
milarity of style discovered between the productions of the 
great Italian and those of our prophets, but because of the 
object which the immortal Alighieri sought to reach. Our 
preachers of old did not stop to round their periods. They 
let the fire of a heavenly zeal burst forth to consume sin and 
to enkindle the hearts of men with devotion to virtue. 
Dante also bade his genius become a scourge to the wicked 
and a solace to the upright. But even as the heralds of 
God’s word suffered in their endeavors to hold the standard 
of truth aloft, so did Dante endure contumely for his loyal- 
ty to principle. Our plaintive Jeremiah, foretelling the 
doom of a wretched prince, asked us not to weep for the 
dead, but to shed scalding tears for the unhappy mortal 
that must leave, nor come again to see, the country of | 
his birth. In similar strain, Dante poured forth lamenta- 
tions at the fate which had made him an exile. 

I cannot follow De Benedettiin his graphic description of 
the visions wherein Dante approaches our heaven-illumined 
seers; nor that of the allegories which Alighieri borrowed from 
the grandest of books. Todo the professor justice, I would 
be compelled to exchange the pleasing office of reviewer 
for the less congenial one of translator. With a marvellous 
erudition the lecturer traces in Dante’s poetical and prose 
writings, Job, David, Isaiah, Joel, Daniel; he marks out 
the conceptions, the expressions, the very words of men who 


ASP ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


live eternally in the eternal volumes. De Benedetti 
denies that Virgil alone, whom Dante calls hismasterand his 
guide, molded ‘‘the style which for its beauty into favor 
exalted”’ Alighieri. The Hebrew Scriptures, singularly 
ingenuous and incisive, entered largely into the composition 
of the mind that brought forth literary creations most 
stupendous. 

Petrarch, who embalmed chaste love in sweet stanzas, 
found in Holy Writ his fragrant ointments. The laurelled 
poet declared in his autobiography that he ‘‘delighted in 
the sacred writings.’”’ When he cries, ‘‘No swallow was 
e’er so lonely on a roof as I abide’ our minds instinctively 
recall the lament of the afflicted in the Psalter: “I am a 
solitary bird upon the housetop.”’ 

The lecturer deprecates a visible decline of taste for 
Biblical writings from the days of Petrarch to later ages. 
Surveying the field of Italian letters, he perceives a healthy 
growth where the Bible has scattered its seeds, and rank 
weeds, when it has not been at work. He extols Metastasio 
—the prolific author of the last century,—whose collection 
of moral sentences, teems with scriptural sentiments in 
simple rhymes of artless beauty. Of those in our age, who 
have intensely realized the magnificence of Israel’s poesy, 
De Benedetti cites two, preeminently great. Monti, who 
wrote that “if Homer is the prince of poets, David is their 
king’’; Monti, who in thrilling accents paraphrased Ezekiel’s 
vision of the dry bones, and Manzoni, whom none among 
his contemporaries exceeded in the gift of clothing lofty 
thoughts in the ingenuous simplicity of the inspired book. 

So writes Salvatore De Benedetti: ‘‘In Dante, and in 
Manzoni, the influence of Biblical poetry is most clearly 
manifest. We will repeat it. The character of that 
poetry which led those great ones to choose it above all 
others, is a manly simplicity—a simplicity which to foilow 
is to temper and correct art and fiction bordering close upon 
falsity; defects into which not rarely have they fallen, who 
cling absolutely to the classical style. We look on Biblical 
poetry as on a mountainous region with pure air and spon- 


THE BIBLE AND ITALIAN LITERATURE 235 


taneous vegetation. Thither man with health broken by 
acorrupt city life goes torecover. Its simplicity and strength 
are the issue of the religious and moral ideal underlying it— 
an ideal which permeates thought, affection, life.”’ 

It is due to a friend and teacher, that I shall add a few 
words to the foregoing review. Previous to his elevation to 
the Chair he honorably fills, Salvatore De Benedetti 
had published lectures, pamphlets and critiques, but since 
he has occupied his present position in the royal University 
at Pisa, the professor has contributed articles on the history 
of the Kazars and other subjects,—the last work from 
his pen being ‘‘The Life and Death of Moses,”’ predicated 
upon Rabbinical legends. 


AN OLD RITUAL 


In an article contributed about eight years ago to an 
interesting publication, which has since been discontinued, 
I gave a few specimens of the nature of the Italo-Jewish 
liturgy (Minhag Italiani). I wished to correct a mistake 
into which Israelites, otherwise well-informed, have fre- 
quently fallen. They have believed that all Italian Jews 
follow the Sephardic (Spanish-Protuguese) ritual, and differ 
from this, at times, only in the choice and length of Prop- 
hetic sections (Haftaroth), as marked out in some Hebrew 
Bibles. That the impression is erroneous, I will endeavor 
further to show by the observations which I am about to 
offer. 


In the pronunciation of the Hebrew, Italian Jews agree 
in the main, though not altogether, with the Portuguese, 
but they possess a ritual of their own, as distinct from that of 
the latter as from that of the Ashkenazim (German-Polish). 
It is unnecessary to say, that respecting the prayers, at- 
tributed to ‘‘the Men of the Great Assembly,’’ and their 
supplications of a confessedly very ancient date, the Italian 
liturgy presents few variations from the universally accepted 
formula. The wording of the Kaddish, corresponds almost 
precisely to the Ashkenazic, but in the whole internal 
arrangement, the Machzor or Siddur (successive order of 
prayers), stands by itself. In several instances it is rather 
longer than either the Protuguese or German, but it is 
not unlike the last-named, in the multiplicity of poetical 
effusions (Pzyutim) for special Sabbaths, holidays and semi- 
holidays. Those effusions have emanated mainly from 
Italian Rabbis, who, at times, could rise to sublimity of 
thought and diction, but who seldom soared so loftily as 
the liturgical Hebrew poets of Spain and Portugal. These 
great masters also have now and then a conspicuous place 
in the Italian ritual, and so has the famous Kalir—obscure 


AN OLD RITUAL 235 


in his learned allusions to Talmudical teachings and legen- 
dary tales, and in his strangely-constructed diction. 


Noteworthy is the circumstance that in the Italian as 
in the German Machzor, will be met several poems of the 
most illustrious among men of the Sephardic school, which 
are not found in the Portuguese Machzor. It is a cause of 
regret that the heart-touching ‘‘Ziyon,” of Judah ha- 
Levi, was not inserted among the elegies recited by Portu- 
guese Jews, on the Ninth of Ab, and that the inspiring apos- 
trophe to the soul, (Barecht Nafshi), by Bachya, did not 
receive the position, it preeminently deserves, in the Portu- 
guese ritual for the Day of Atonement. None will imagine 
for a moment, that the omission is due to the previous 
closing of the Machzor, for, to suppose it, would be to have 
forgotten history. A study of the subject will disclose 
the fact that additions have been made even in late ages 
in all existing rituals. Local rabbis and scholarly readers 
(Hazzanim) responding to pious emotions, would indite 
special invocations, which were by degrees embodied in the 
respective prayer books. Thus they swelled to a large size, 
as evidenced by the Italian ritual. 


To tell with precision when the latter began to make 
room for poetical pieces (Pzyutim) would be very difficult, 
but we may accept as authority what Luzzatto writes in his 
Mabo (Introduction) to the Italian Machzor.t Over a 
thousand years ago, Jews in the peninsula expressed the 
religious feelings which stirred within their breasts, by poems 
breathing profound devotion. To allow such poems a 
place in the ancient liturgy, was not unprecedented, for, 
without entering into the vexed question of the period 
of the famous Kalir,? we learn from Saadya Gaon, of the 
tenth century, that ‘“‘early Rabbis were wont to recite on 
the Day of Atonement,’’ certain compositions fitting the 
solemn occasion. 

The ‘‘Machzor of Rome’’—which is one of the names 


t Leghorn, 1856. [G] 
2 See p. 154. [G] 


236 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


given to the Italian liturgy—issued from the press before all 
others; for the Soncino family, who deserve well of pos- 
terity, printed it in 1485.* It largely prevails in Italy, but 
nowhere else has it any hold, except in two small Synagogues 
at Salonica. All are aware that in Europe the Ashke- 
nazic Machzor is followed by the majority of our people; 
in Asia and Africa, the Sephardic. Still that circum- 
stance has not prevented the acceptance by all, of com- 
positions from writers belonging to any of those three 
principal rituals. Thus it has happened that the elegy 
Eleh Ezkerah, (unhistorically representing the martyrdom of 
the ten sages) ,whose author appears to have been a German, 
was admitted in all rituals; so was the acrostic poem Lecha 
Dodi, introductory of the Friday evening service, written 
by one following the Portuguese minhag; and so was like- 
wise the universally known Yzgdal, that condensation of 
Maimonides’ thirteen articles of the Jewish faith which in 
all likelihood proceeded from an Italian Rabbi. The con- 
jecture that Maimonides was also the writer of that poem, 
has met with reasonable disfavor. Again a theory was once 
held that the last verse ingeniously reveals the name of 
‘‘Yehiel Baruch,” its supposed author; but Luzzatto in his 
Mabo to the Italian Machzor, tells us: ‘‘I have seen a parch- 
ment manuscript of the Roman ritual, prepared in the year 
5143 (1383). It belongs toAlmanzi. The scribe, called Moses 
ben Jekuthiel Hefez, of the Zichron family, wrote it by ord- 
er of Daniel, son of the physician, Samuel Dayan. The fol- 
lowing inscription is placed as a heading over Yigdal: “These 
are the thirteen articles of our faithas arranged by my grand- 
father Daniel, son of Judah Dayan, of blessed memory.’”’ 
The same inscription exists on a transcript of Yigdal, found 
in a parchment copy of the Pentateuch at Venice, and as the 
poem Adon ‘Olam immediately follows, Luzzatto inclines to 
think that the last named composition also proceeded from 


t The first volume was printed in 1485 and the secnd volume in 
1486. A second edition of the Machzor of Rome was issued from the 
same printing press in1495, indicating the great popularity which the 
first edition must have enjoyed. [G] 


AN OLD RITUAL 237 


Italy. It were desirable to compare other effusions of the 
elder Daniel Dayan with the Yzgdal, and judge as to his 
claim to the title of poet, but the Machzor has none from 
his. pen. The most extensive contributor seems to have 
been a Rabbi Benjamin of Rome, whom Zunz recognizes 
as a contemporary of the celebrated Meir of Rothenburg— 
flourishing towards the end of the thirteenth century. He 
enriched the Italian ritual with writings, which not in- 
frequently exhibit a flowing and elevated style. A free 
translation of a sentence may possibly serve as an illustra- 
tion. Thus beginsa prayer for the conclusion of a Kippur 
service: ‘‘Ere the sun shall again enter his chamber, and lie 
hid beneath his canopy, let O Lord! sin quickly depart, and 
forgiveness cover up Thy people’s failings. From morn 
to eve have they turned as suppliants to Thy Oracle. Oh! 
pay the guerdon of a whole day’s humiliation; let not the 
sun go down and see it pass unrewarded.”’ 

Speaking of the Day of Atonement, a peculiarity in the 
Italian Machzor is worth noticing. The Kol Nidre appears 
there in Hebrew, instead of Chaldaic; nor is the wording 
exactly equivalent to that current among Sephardim or 
Ashkenazim. However, that is not the only singularity 
striking the reader of the first published Hebrew liturgy. 
How incalculably beneficial a searching into the character 
of every liturgy, with a view to improve, abridge and unify 
the Jewish service would be, all who love Israel understand. 
In Italy, as far as the writer of this article could ascertain, 
the variety of rituals has not created a division of hearts, 
but how very mischievous it has proved, and still continues 
to prove in other countries! 

America might have offered a model, which the Jewish 
world would have striven to copy; but, she has infinitely 
added to an existing evil. Prayer books bearing the mark 
of individual whims, ignoring the eventful past, disregarding 
the God-inspired yearning for the fulfilment of a glorious 
future; books often incorrect in diction, oftener faulty in log- 
ic have multiplied to a most painful degree. Admit that the 
Portuguese ritual—in more than one sense, unsurpassed— 


238 ITALIAN HEBREW LITERATURE 


becomes objectionable to some by reason of its length and 
repetitions; the German is burdened with writings which 
time has tendered incomprehensible; the Italian. presents 
in a measure the identical defect. But from all of them— 
and from printed and inedited compositions scattered through 
our rich literature—a Machzor might be formulated, pure 
in language, soul-exalting in sentiments, thoroughly Jewish, 
yet varied and acceptably simplified'. 

The great Luzzatto, whom I have necessarily consulted 
in preparing this outline of a far-reaching subject, thus con- 
cludes the Mabo, or “Introduction’’, to which I have referred 
above: ‘“‘It is well known that our predecessors frequently 
changed liturgical poems, dropping the old to seize the new. 
Should we exchange and select and put an end to ritual 
differences, which have bred abundant harm; should we unite 
in praying to God and thanking His name in the same manner 
and style; should our poetical outpourings be the very 
choicest of those written of old in all the places of our dis- 
persion, I think that our ancient authors from the heavens 
where they are sphered, would say: ‘Good is your design, 
excellently directed; pleasing to the Lord is your union. 
Oh! may the Lord grant His people strength; may the 
Lord bless His people with peace.’”’ 


* Dr. Morais was favorably inclined towards a revision of the liturgy 
and as early as 1867 he urged a uniform ritual for American Jews in a 
series of articles in the Jewish Messenger of New York, and later he 
wrote a series of articles for the Jewish Record, of Philadelphia, urging 
the convocation of a Synod for the revision of the liturgy. It is in- 
teresting to note that with all his devotion to the Sephardic ritual and 
his great filial piety and affection for it, he was willing to have the 
Ashkenazic form of service become the standard ritual, if the Piyyutim 
were eliminated. [G] 


INDEX 





INDEX 


Aba Said, 143 

Abarbanel, Isaac, 54, 135, 148, 149 

Abbadie, M.d’, 161 

Abib, 144. 

Abraham ibn Daud, 27 

Abraham ibn Ezra, 2, 108, 132, 
133; 134; 135) 141; 142 

Abraham b. Yehiel, 5 

Acco, Family of, 5 


Alatri, Giacomo, 175 

Alatri, Samuel, 175 ff. 

Albo, Joseph, 108, 130, 131, 135 

Allatini Family, 203 

Alliance Israelite Universelle, 199, 
202, 204, 205, 207, 208, 210, 216 

Almanzi, Joseph, 197 

Alfa Beta de R. Machir, 6 

Anan, 199 

Anaw Family, 5 

Aquila, 65, 124 

Arama, Isaac, 148 

Arbib, Edoardo, 194 

Arbib, Giacomo, 193 

Arbib, Lelio, 194 

Art Nohem, 88, 214 

Aristeas, Letter of, 60 ff. 

Aristotle, 145 

Artom, Isaac, 175 ff. 

Aruch, 7 ff. 

Ascoli, Graziado I., 87, 182 ff., 
215225 

Ashkenazi, Zebi, 70 

Ashkenazic Ritual, 154, 200, 234 

Askarah, 7 

Asmachta, 132, 150 

Assyria, 155, 156, 157 

Averroes, 53 

Azariah de Rossi, 58 ff., 80, 120, 
122, 124 

Azulai, Hayyim Joseph David, 197 


Bahya ibn Pakudah, 135, 235 

Bedersi, Jedaiah b. Abraham, 34 

Beer, Moses Sabato, 173 

Ben Asher, 127 

Ben Naphtali, 127 

Benamozegh, Elias, 88, 92, 174, 
Zisitts 


Bets Salvatore de, 207, 224’ 
228 

Behinat ha-Dat, 53 ff. 
Benjamin b. Judah Bozecco, 20 
Benjamin of Rome, 237 
Benjamin of Tudela, 114 
Berliner, A., 223 

Beth ha-Ozar, 81 

Betulat Bat Judah, 86, 87, 229 
Bevis Marks Synagogue, 70, 77 
Bikkure ha-‘Ittum, 81 

Buxtorf, 6, 137 

Burgenses, Paul, 101 


Calendar, 69, 75, 76 

or ae Family, 203, 204, 208, 
09 

Cantoni, Lelio, 197 

Capellus, 137 

Caro, Joseph, 64 

Castelli, Abraham Isaac, 218 

Castelli, David, 2, 4, 217 ff. 

Castelli, Joseph, 218 

Castelli, Samuel, 218 

Castiglioni, Victor, 195, 196, 197, 
198, 199, 200, 201, 202 

Chaldaic Version of Bible, 121 ff. 

Charizi, see Harizi 

Chazars, 160 

Cohn, Albert, 162, 174 

Cologna, Mordecai Isaac, 79 

Coronel, N. N., 88 

Cremieux, 204 


Daniel, brother of Immanuel, 47 

Daniel b. Yehiel, 5 

Dante, 39 ff., 231 

Derenbourg, Joseph, 142 

Diodati, John, 90 

Donnolo, Shabbetai, 1 ff., 220 

Dukes, Leopold, 163, 198 

eee b. Labrat, 160, 163, 164, 
16 


Eben Bohan, 33 

Eldad the Danite, 62 

Elias del Medigo, 52 ff., 80 

Elijah Bahur, 105, 127, 136, 137, 


143 
Elijah Mizrahi, 52 


242 


Elisha Gallico, 65 

Em le-Mikra, 214 

Emat Mafgia‘, 215 

Emek ‘Achor, 201 

Emunot we-De’ot, 130, 142 
Ephodi, see Profiat Duran 
Esh Dat, 70 

Essenes, 215, 216 


Faitlovitch, Jacques, 162 
Falashas, 161, 162, 163 
Firkovich, Abraham, 137 
Florentino, Abram, 206, 208 
Florentino, Angiolo, 206 
Florentino, Samuel, 202, 206 
Formiggini, Saul, 199 
Franchetti, Alberto, 192 
Franchetti, Augusto, 191, 192 
Franchetti, Giuseppe, 192 
Franchetti, Leopoldo, 191 
Franchetti, Odoardo, 192 
Franchetti, Raimondo, 191, 192 
Franck, Adolph, 214 

Frankel, Ludwig August, 199 
Franzos, Karl Emil, 214 
Furst, Julius, 198 


Gabirol, Solomon ibn, 28, 29 

Gaon, Geonim, 134 

Gedaliah ibn Yahia, 65, 127 

Geiger, A., 2, 47, 103 

Gershom b. Judah, 6 

Gersonides, 145 

Gesenius, W., 109 ff. 

Ghirondi, Marco S., 198 

Gioberti, Vincenzo, 230 

Ginzberg, Louis, 29 

Graetz, H., 30, 65, 103, 159, 160, 
212 

Grunwald, M., 78 


Hacham Zebi, 70 

Hadrat Zekenim, 60 

Hai Gaon, 37 

Halberstamm, S., 223 

Halevi, Joseph, 162 

Hanoch b. Moses, 159 

Hariri, 9 

Harizi, Judah al, 9, 10, 17, 30 

Hasdai ibn Shaprut, 72, 157, 158, 
163, 164, 166, 167 

Hasidism, 88, 213, 215 

Hayug, Judah, 27 

Hazzan, Israel Moses, 173 

Hebrew, Pronunciation of, 84, 234 

Heilprin, Michael, 210, 211 

Hermeneutics, Biblical, 128, 134, 
140, 141, 143 


INDEX 


Hezkoni, 135 

Hillel, the Elder, 128 

Hillel, the Younger, 76 

Hirsch, Baron de, 202, 204, 205, 
209, 211 

Hoil Mosheh, 195 

Hyam Galippa, 130 


‘Tkkarim, 130 

Immanuel of Rome, 9 ff., 222 
Italian Ritual, 234 

Italy, Jews in, 1 ff. 


Jastrow, M., 30 

Jellinek, A., 195 

Jonah ibn Janah, 142 

Joseph Solomon del Medigo, 53 

Joseph Satanes, 158 

Judah ha-Levi, 71, 72, 85, 86, 87, 
207:/221) 225, 22842097235 

Judah b. Moses, see Leon Romano 

Judah Mintz, 52 

Judah Siciliano, see Leon Siciliani 


Kabbalah, 16, 53, 55, 56, 87, 88, 
214, 217, 221 

Kaddish, 121 

Kahn, Zadoc, 209 

Kalir, Eliezer, 154, 234 

Kalonymos b. Kalonymos, 33 

Karaites, 55, 118, 119, 139, 143, 
144 

Karme. Shomron, 117 

Katzenelenbogen, Meir, 52 

Kennicott, Benjamin, 125 

Kerem Hemed, 58, 66, 136, 163 

Keri and Ketib, 106 

Keter Malkut, 29 

Kimhi, David, 27, 105, 130, 134 

Kinnor Na‘im, 196 

Kirchheim, Raphael, 117 

Kitta (defined), 7 

Kochebe Yizhak, 199 

Kol Elohim, 60 

Kol Nidre, 237 

Kohut, Alexander, 6, 8 

Kuzari, 71, 221 

Kuzari Sheni, 71 ff. 


Landau, Moses, 8 
Lasinio, Fausto, 224 
Leeser, Isaac, 116 

Leon, Romano, 19, 20, 47 
Leon Siciliani, 20 
Lessing, G., 218 

Levi, David, 184 ff. 

Lex Talionis, 144 


INDEX 


Lolli, Samuel V., 198 

Luzzatti, Luigi, 188 ff. 

Luzzatto, Isaiah, 89, 153, 188, 197, 
198 

Luzzatto, Philoxene, 153 ff., 199 

Luzzatto, S. D., 78 ff., 154, 162) 
163, 182, 183, 196, 197, 199, 212, 
ZS 20N 352308255 


Machir b. Judah, 6 

ha-Maggid, 79 

Mahberoth Immanuel, 10 ff. 

Maimonides, 2, 18, 19, 53, 127, 
135, 138, 145, 146, 149, 236 

Makamot, 9 

Malvano, Alessandro, 178 

Massarani, Tullo, 179 ff. 

Maseket Purim, 33 

Massorah, 108, 127 

Massoret ha-Massoret, 105 

Mathya b. Heresh, 1, 2, 7 

Matte Dan, 71 ff. 

Maurogonato, Isaac Pesaro, 178 

Mazref la-Kesef, 66 

Measeph, 142 

Meir of Rothenburg, 237 

Menahem Bozecchi, 46 

Menahem b. Saruk, 160, 163, 167 

Menasseh b. Israel, 70 

Mendelssohn, Moses, 80, 91, 135, 
141, 142, 218 

Meor ‘Enayim, 58 ff., 120 

Messiah, 130, 219 ff. 

Meturgeman, 121 

Milhamot ha-Shem, 145 

Minhah Hadashah, 142 

Minhat Shai, 126 

Mishtaddel, 81. 91 

Modena, Leon, 57, 80, 88, 214 

Montefiore, Sir Moses, 180 

Montefiore, M. G., 211 

Morais, H. S., 213 

Mordecai Nissan, 119 

Moreh Nebuchim, 138, 145, 146 

Morin, Jean, 101, 108, 129 

Morpurgo, Rachel, 199 

Moses Cohen, 135, 142 

Moses b. Hanoch, 159 

Mozene Leshon ha-Kodesh, 
134, 142 

Munk, S., 87, 99, 162, 228 

Mussafia, Benjamin, 5 


133, 


Nachmanides, 130, 135 
Nathan, Rabbi, 159 
Nathan b. Yehiel, 5 ff. 
Nathan, Ernesto, 174 


243 


Nathan, Mrs. Sarah Roselli, 174 
Neginoth, 132 

Nehemiah Hayyun, 70 

Ne‘im Zemiroth Shemuel, 196 
Netter, Charles, 210 
Neubauer, A., 223 

Nicholas de Lyra, 101 

Nieto, David, 68 ff. 

Nilus, Abbott, 4 

Nizzanim, 196 

Norzi, Raphael, 126 


Occident, The, 78, 79, 116 

Oheb Ger, 84, 124, 137, 138 

Onkelos, 65, 84, 124, 132, 137, 138, 
139, 140 

Oppenheim Collection, 53 

Oppert, Jules, 225 


Pascalogia, 69 

Perreau, Peter, 11, 222 ff. 
Penini, see Bedersi 
Pentateuch, Integrity of, 93 ff. 
Pharisees, 216 

Philo Judaeus, 62, 63 

Picco della Mirandola, 52 
Pinsker, Simhah, 137 

Piperno, Abraham B., 173, 203, 213 
Poznansky, S., 142 

Profiat Duran, 105, 142, 143 
Proselytism, 161, 162 


Rapoport, S. J., 5, 6, 154, 159 

Rashe Tebot, 226 

Rashi, 130, 134, 141 

Reggio, Abraham V., 198 

Reggio, Isaac Samuel, 57, 92, 126, 
198 


Reines, Moses, 184 

Renan, Ernest, 183 

Rome, Jews in, 1, 173 ff. 

Roselli Family, 174 

Rossi, de, Family, 58 

Rossi, Azariah de, see Azariah de 
Rossi 

Rossi, J. B., de, 116, 117, 125, 126 

Rothschild, Alphonse de, 181 

Rothschild, James de, 174 


Saadia Gaon, 37, 53, 130, 142, 143 
235 

Sabbatyon, 62 

Saboraim, 136 

Sacher-Masoch, 214 

Sadducees, 102, 103 

Samaritans, 108 ff., 143 

Samuel of Nehardea, 76 


244 


Samuel b. Meir, 135 

Sanhedrin, 102 

Saraval, W. H., 79 

Sarnak, 7 

Saul Cohen Tedeschi, 54 

Schechter, S., 103 

Schurer, 103 

Scribes, 94, 96, 98, 105 

Semuchin, 150 

Sephardic Ritual, 234 

Sepher ha-Yakar, 3 

Sepher Yezirah, 2, 4, 220 

Septuagint, 62, 119, 122, 123 

Sforno, Obadiah, 135 

Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah, 65, 86, 127 

Shire Tiferet, 141 

Simeon b. Shatah, 118, 119 

Simeon b. Yohai, 56, 214 

Simon, Jules, 217 

Simon, Richard, 94 

Solomon ha-Levi, see Burgenses, 
Paul 

Sonino, Sidney, 191 

Sopher, 103, 104, 105 

Steinschneider, M., 3, 198, 212, 223 

Stern, Mendel, 199 

Sulzberger, Mayer, 116 

Symmachus, 124 


Ta‘am Leshad, 88 


INDEX 


Tahkemoni, 4, 10 

Tal Yaldut, 200 

Te’amim, Neginot, 66, 132, 137 
Tedeschi, Marco, 197 
Tedeschi, Moses, 162, 195 
Theodotion, 124 

ha-Torah weha-Pilisufia, 57 
Torre, Lellio della, 185, 200 
Treves, S. G., 185, 197 


‘Uggab Rachel, 200 


Veneziani, Emanuel, 202ff. 
Veneziani, Victor, 209 
Vocalization, superlinear, 136, 137 


Weil, G., 225 
Wellhausen, J., 103 
Wessely, N. H., 80, 135, 141, 142 


Vigdal, 236 
Yelid Kinnor, 196 
Yom Tob b. Abraham, 121 


Zahot, 133 

Zelman, Samuel Vita, 195, 199 

Zohar, 53, 56, 58, 62, 87, 88, 201, 
214 

Zunz, Leopold, 65, 66, 198, 218, 
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